                                 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.