77-23a-3 - Definitions. - Utah Statutes

77-23a-3. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to any intercepted wire,electronic, or oral communication, or a person against whom the interception was directed.
(2) "Aural transfer" means any transfer containing the human voice at any point betweenand including the point of origin and the point of reception.
(3) "Communications common carrier" means any person engaged as a common carrierfor hire in intrastate, interstate, or foreign communication by wire or radio, including a providerof electronic communication service. However, a person engaged in radio broadcasting is not,when that person is so engaged, a communications common carrier.
(4) "Contents" when used with respect to any wire, electronic, or oral communicationincludes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.
(5) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of signs, signals, writings, images,sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system, but does not include:
(a) the radio portion of a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted betweenthe cordless telephone handset and the base unit;
(b) any wire or oral communications;
(c) any communication made through a tone-only paging device; or
(d) any communication from an electronic or mechanical device that permits the trackingof the movement of a person or object.
(6) "Electronic communications service" means any service that provides for users theability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.
(7) "Electronic communications system" means any wire, radio, electromagnetic,photoelectronic, or photo-optical facilities for the transmission of electronic communications, andany computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of thecommunication.
(8) "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device or apparatus that may beused to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication other than:
(a) any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or a component of any ofthem:
(i) furnished by the provider of wire or electronic communications service or by thesubscriber or user, and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business;or
(ii) being used by a provider of wire or electronic communications service in the ordinarycourse of its business, or by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course ofhis duties; or
(b) a hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not betterthan normal.
(9) "Electronic storage" means:
(a) any temporary intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication incident tothe electronic transmission of it; and
(b) any storage of the communication by an electronic communications service for thepurposes of backup protection of the communication.
(10) "Intercept" means the acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral

communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.
(11) "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means any officer of the state or of apolitical subdivision, who by law may conduct investigations of or make arrests for offensesenumerated in this chapter, or any federal officer as defined in Section 53-13-106, and anyattorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of these offenses.
(12) "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a judge of a district court of the state.
(13) "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibitingan expectation that the communication is not subject to interception, under circumstancesjustifying that expectation, but does not include any electronic communication.
(14) "Pen register" means a device that records or decodes electronic or other impulsesthat identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which the deviceis attached. "Pen register" does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wireor electronic communication service for billing or recording as an incident to billing, forcommunications services provided by the provider, or any device used by a provider or customerof a wire communications service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinarycourse of its business.
(15) "Person" means any employee or agent of the state or a political subdivision, andany individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, or corporation.
(16) "Readily accessible to the general public" means, regarding a radio communication,that the communication is not:
(a) scrambled or encrypted;
(b) transmitted using modulation techniques with essential parameters that have beenwithheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of the communication;
(c) carried on a subcarrier or signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(d) transmitted over a communications system provided by a common carrier, unless thecommunication is a tone-only paging system communication; or
(e) transmitted on frequencies allocated under Part 25, Subpart D, E, or F of Part 74, orPart 94, Rules of the Federal Communications Commission unless, in the case of acommunication transmitted on a frequency allocated under Part 74 that is not exclusivelyallocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communicationby radio.
(17) "Trap and trace device" means a device, process, or procedure that captures theincoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number of an instrument ordevice from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted.
(18) "User" means any person or entity who:
(a) uses an electronic communications service; and
(b) is authorized by the provider of the service to engage in the use.
(19) (a) "Wire communication" means any aural transfer made in whole or in part throughthe use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other likeconnection between the point of origin and the point of reception, including the use of theconnection in a switching station, furnished or operated by any person engaged as a commoncarrier in providing or operating these facilities for the transmission of intrastate, interstate, orforeign communications.
(b) "Wire communication" includes the electronic storage of the communication, but doesnot include the radio portion of a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted between

the cordless telephone handset and the base unit.

Amended by Chapter 282, 1998 General Session