19.2-61 - Definitions.
§ 19.2-61. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
"Aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to any intercepted wire,electronic or oral communication or a person against whom the interceptionwas directed;
"Aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human voice at any pointbetween and including the point of origin and the point of reception;
"Communications common carrier" means any person engaged as a commoncarrier for hire in communication by wire or radio or in radio transmissionof energy;
"Contents" when used with respect to any wire, electronic or oralcommunication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport ormeaning of that communication;
"Electronic, mechanical or other device" means any device or apparatus thatcan be used to intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication other than:
(a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or anycomponent thereof, (i) furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider ofwire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of itsbusiness and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course ofits business or furnished by the subscriber or user for connection to thefacilities of such service and used in the ordinary course of thesubscriber's or user's business; or (ii) being used by a communicationscommon carrier in the ordinary course of its business, or by an investigativeor law-enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties;
(b) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearingto not better than normal;
"Electronic communication" means any transfer of signs, signals, writing,images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole orin part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photoopticalsystem. The term does not include:
1. Any wire communication or oral communication as defined herein;
2. Any communication made through a tone-only paging device;
3. Any communication from an electronic or mechanical device which permitsthe tracking of the movement of a person or object; or
4. Any electronic funds transfer information stored by a financialinstitution in a communications system used for the electronic storage andtransfer of funds;
"Electronic communication service" means any service which provides tousers thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electroniccommunications;
"Electronic communication system" means any wire, radio, electromagnetic,photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire orelectronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronicequipment for the electronic storage of such communications;
"Electronic storage" means any temporary, intermediate storage of a wire orelectronic communication incidental to the electronic transmission thereofand any storage of such communication by an electronic communication servicefor purposes of backup protection of such communication;
"Intercept" means any aural or other means of acquisition of the contentsof any wire, electronic or oral communication through the use of anyelectronic, mechanical or other device;
"Investigative or law-enforcement officer" means any officer of the UnitedStates or of a state or political subdivision thereof, who is empowered bylaw to conduct investigations of or to make arrests for offenses enumeratedin this chapter, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute orparticipate in the prosecution of such offenses;
"Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a judge of any circuit court of theCommonwealth with general criminal jurisdiction;
"Monitor" or "monitoring" means the actual auditory or visual acquisitionof an intercepted communication by any means;
"Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a personexhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject tointerception under circumstances justifying such expectations but does notinclude any electronic communication;
"Pen register" means a device or process that records or decodes dialing,routing, addressing or signaling information transmitted by an instrument orfacility from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted;however, such information shall not include the contents of anycommunication. The term does not include any device or process used by aprovider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service forbilling, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications servicesprovided by such provider or any device or process used by a provider orcustomer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other likepurposes in the ordinary course of the provider's or customer's business;
"Person" means any employee or agent of the Commonwealth or a politicalsubdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association, jointstock company, trust or corporation;
"Readily accessible to the general public" means, with respect to a radiocommunication, that such communication is not (i) scrambled or encrypted;(ii) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters havebeen withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy ofsuch communication; (iii) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiaryto a radio transmission; (iv) transmitted over a communication systemprovided by a communications common carrier, unless the communication is atone-only paging system communication; or (v) transmitted on frequenciesallocated under Part 25, subpart D, E, or F of Part 74, or Part 94 of theRules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of acommunication transmitted on a frequency allocated under Part 74 that is notexclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is atwo-way voice communication by radio;
"Remote computing service" means the provision to the public of computerstorage or processing services by means of an electronic communicationssystem;
"Trap and trace device" means a device or process that captures theincoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number orother dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information reasonablylikely to identify the source of a wire or electronic communication; however,such information shall not include the contents of any communication;
"User" means any person or entity who uses an electronic communicationservice and is duly authorized by the provider of such service to engage insuch use;
"Wire communication" means any aural transfer made in whole or in partthrough the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by theaid of wire, cable, or other like connection, including the use of suchconnection in a switching station, furnished or operated by any personengaged in providing or operating such facilities for the transmission ofcommunications.
(Code 1950, § 19.1-89.1; 1973, c. 442; 1975, c. 495; 1988, c. 889; 2002, cc.588, 623; 2005, c. 934.)