                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 19.2-61)

As used in this chapter:
		&#8220;Aggrieved person&#8221; means a person who was a party to any
intercepted wire, electronic or oral communication or a person against whom the
interception was directed;
		&#8220;Aural transfer&#8221; means a transfer containing the human voice at
any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception;
		&#8220;Communications common carrier&#8221; means any person engaged as a
common carrier for hire in communication by wire or radio or in radio
transmission of energy;
		&#8220;Contents&#8221; when used with respect to any wire, electronic or oral
communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport or
meaning of that communication;
		&#8220;Electronic, mechanical or other device&#8221; means any device or
apparatus that can be used to intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication
other than:

a. Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any
component thereof, (i) furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of wire
or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business and
being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or
furnished by the subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such
service and used in the ordinary course of the subscriber&#8217;s or
user&#8217;s business; or (ii) being used by a communications common carrier in
the ordinary course of its business, or by an investigative or law-enforcement
officer in the ordinary course of his duties;

b. A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to
not better than normal;
			&#8220;Electronic communication&#8221; means any transfer of signs, signals,
writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or
photooptical system. 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 permits the
   tracking of the movement of a person or object; or

   4. Any electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial institution
   in a communications system used for the electronic storage and transfer of
   funds;
   				&#8220;Electronic communication service&#8221; means any service which
   provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic
   communications;
   				&#8220;Electronic communication system&#8221; means any wire, radio,
   electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the
   transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities
   or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such
   communications;
   				&#8220;Electronic storage&#8221; means any temporary, intermediate storage
   of a wire or electronic communication incidental to the electronic
   transmission thereof and any storage of such communication by an electronic
   communication service for purposes of backup protection of such communication;
   				&#8220;Intercept&#8221; means any aural or other means of acquisition of
   the contents of any wire, electronic or oral communication through the use of
   any electronic, mechanical or other device;
   				&#8220;Investigative or law-enforcement officer&#8221; means any officer
   of the United States or of a state or political subdivision thereof, who is
   empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to make arrests for offenses
   enumerated in this chapter, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or
   participate in the prosecution of such offenses;
   				&#8220;Judge of competent jurisdiction&#8221; means a judge of any circuit
   court of the Commonwealth with general criminal jurisdiction;
   				&#8220;Monitor&#8221; or &#8220;monitoring&#8221; means the actual
   auditory or visual acquisition of an intercepted communication by any means;
   				&#8220;Oral communication&#8221; means any oral communication uttered by a
   person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to
   interception under circumstances justifying such expectations but does not
   include any electronic communication;
   				&#8220;Pen register&#8221; means a device or process that records or
   decodes dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information transmitted by
   an instrument or facility from which a wire or electronic communication is
   transmitted; however, such information shall not include the contents of any
   communication. The term does not include any device or process used by a
   provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for
   billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications services
   provided by such provider or any device or process used by a provider or
   customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like
   purposes in the ordinary course of the provider&#8217;s or customer&#8217;s
   business;
   				&#8220;Person&#8221; means any employee or agent of the Commonwealth or a
   political subdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association,
   joint stock company, trust or corporation;
   				&#8220;Readily accessible to the general public&#8221; means, with respect
   to a radio communication, that such communication is not (i) scrambled or
   encrypted; (ii) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential
   parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving
   the privacy of such communication; (iii) carried on a subcarrier or other
   signal subsidiary to a radio transmission; (iv) transmitted over a
   communication system provided by a communications common carrier, unless the
   communication is a tone-only paging system communication; or (v) transmitted
   on frequencies allocated under Part 25, subpart D, E, or F of Part 74, or Part
   94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case
   of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under Part 74 that is
   not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication
   is a two-way voice communication by radio;
   				&#8220;Remote computing service&#8221; means the provision to the public
   of computer storage or processing services by means of an electronic
   communications system;
   				&#8220;Trap and trace device&#8221; means a device or process that
   captures the incoming electronic or other impulses that identify the
   originating number or other dialing, routing, addressing and signaling
   information reasonably likely to identify the source of a wire or electronic
   communication; however, such information shall not include the contents of any
   communication;
   				&#8220;User&#8221; means any person or entity who uses an electronic
   communication service and is duly authorized by the provider of such service
   to engage in such use;
   				&#8220;Wire communication&#8221; means any aural transfer made in whole or
   in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications
   by the aid of wire, cable, or other like connection, including the use of such
   connection in a switching station, furnished or operated by any person engaged
   in providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of
   communications.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 19.1-89.1; 1973, c. 442; 1975, c. 495; 1988, c. 889;
2002, cc. 588, 623; 2005, c. 934.