As used in this chapter:

(1) "Wire communication" 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 between the point of origin and the point of reception including the use of this connection in a switching station furnished or operated by any person engaged in providing or operating the facilities for the transmission of intrastate, interstate, or foreign communications or communications affecting intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce. The term includes any electronic storage of the communication.

(2) "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that the communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying the expectation and does not mean any public oral communication uttered at a public meeting or any electronic communication.

(3) "Intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.

(4) "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device or apparatus which 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 the service and used in the ordinary course of its business; or

(ii) being used by a provider of wire or electronic communications service in the ordinary course of its business or by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties; or

(b) a hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal.

(5) "Person" means an employee or agent of the State of South Carolina or political subdivision of the State, of the United States, or of any other state or political subdivision of the State, and any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, or corporation.

(6) "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means an officer of the State of South Carolina or political subdivision of the State, of the United States, or of any other state or political subdivision of the State, who is empowered by law to conduct on behalf of the government investigations of or to make arrests for offenses enumerated in this chapter or similar federal offenses.

(7) "Contents", when used with respect to any wire, oral, or electronic communication, include any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.

(8) "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a circuit court judge designated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina.

(9) "Reviewing authority" means a panel of three judges of the South Carolina Court of Appeals designated by the Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals.

(10) "Aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to any intercepted wire, oral, or electronic communication or a person against whom the interception was directed.

(11) "Law enforcement agency" means the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) or an agency of the United States if the primary responsibility of the agency is the prevention and detection of crime and if its agents and officers are empowered by law to conduct criminal investigations and to make arrests.

(12) "Communication common carrier" has the same meaning which is given the term "common carrier" in 47 U.S.C. Section 153(h).

(13) "Electronic communication" 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, photooptical system, or any other device that affects intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce, but does not include:

(a) any wire or oral communication;

(b) any communication made through a tone-only paging device;

(c) any communication from an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the movement of a person or an object; or

(d) electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial institution in a communications system used for the electronic storage and transfer of funds.

(14) "User" means any person or entity who:

(a) uses an electronic communication service; and

(b) is duly authorized by the provider of the service to engage in its use.

(15) "Electronic communications system" 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 these communications.

(16) "Electronic communication service" means any service which provides to users of the service the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.

(17) "Readily accessible to the general public" means, with respect to a radio communication, that the communication is not:

(a) scrambled or encrypted;

(b) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of the communication;

(c) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;

(d) transmitted over a communications system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone-only paging system communication; or

(e) transmitted on frequencies allocated under Part 25; Subpart D, Subpart E, or Subpart 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.

(18) "Electronic storage" means:

(a) any temporary intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication incidental to the electronic transmission of the communication; or

(b) any storage of a wire or electronic communication by an electronic communication service for purposes of backup protection of such communication.

(19) "Aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception.

(20) "Remote computing service" means the provision to the public of computer storage or processing services by means of an electronic communications system.

(21) "Pen register" means a device which records or decodes electronic or other impulses which identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which the device is attached, but the term does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing or recording as an incident to billing, for communication services provided by the provider, or any device used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business.

(22) "Trap and trace device" means a device which captures the incoming electronic or other impulses which identify the originating number of an instrument or a device from which a wire or electronic communication was transmitted.

(23) "State" means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other possession or territory of the United States.

HISTORY: 2002 Act No. 339, Section 14, eff July 2, 2002.