Colorado Code § 18-9-301

Definitions
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this section
As used in sections 18-9-301 to 18-9-305, unless the context
otherwise requires:
(1) "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.
(1.5) "Aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between
and including the point of origin and the point of reception.
(2) "Common carrier" means any person engaged as a common carrier for hire in
intrastate, interstate, or foreign communication by wire or radio or in intrastate, interstate, or
foreign radio transmission of energy.
(3) "Contents", when used with respect to any wire, oral, or electronic communication,
includes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.
(3.3) "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, or photooptical system that affects interstate or foreign
commerce but does not include:
(a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 97, p. 602, § 2, effective August 6, 1997.)
(b) Any wire or oral communication;
(c) Any communication made through a tone-only paging device; or
(d) Any communication from a tracking device.
(3.5) "Electronic communication service" means any service which provides to users
thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.
(3.7) "Electronic communications system" means any wire, radio, electromagnetic,
photooptical, or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of electronic communications and
any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such
communications.
(4) "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device or apparatus which can
be used to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication, other than:
(a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component
thereof, 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 such subscriber or user for connection to the
facilities of such service and being used in the ordinary course of its business, or being used by a
provider of wire or electronic communication service 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 hearing.
(4.5) "Electronic storage" means:
(a) Any temporary, intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication
incidental to the electronic transmission thereof; and
(b) Any storage of such communication by an electronic communication service for
purposes of backup protection of such communication.
(5) "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.
(6) "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means any officer of the United States or
of the state of Colorado or a political subdivision thereof who is empowered by law to conduct
investigations of, or to make arrests for, offenses enumerated in this part 3, and any attorney
authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offenses.
(7) "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means any justice of the supreme court or a judge
of any district court of the state of Colorado.
(8) "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by any person
believing that such communication is not subject to interception, under circumstances justifying
such belief, but does not include any electronic communication.
(8.3) "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 such device is attached but shall 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
communications services provided by such 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.
(8.5) "Readily accessible to the general public" means, with respect to a radio
communication, that such communication is not:
(a) Scrambled or encrypted;
(b) Transmitted using modulation techniques having essential parameters withheld from
the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(c) Carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(d) Transmitted over a communication 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, 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.
(8.7) "Trap and trace device" means a device which captures the incoming electronic or
other impulses which identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a
wire or electronic communication was transmitted.
(8.9) "User" means any person or entity which uses an electronic communication service
and is duly authorized by the provider of such service to engage in such use.
(9) "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, including the use of such connection in a switching station, between the point of
origin and the point of reception, furnished or operated by any person engaged in providing or
operating such facilities for the transmission of communications and includes any electronic
storage of such communication.

‹ Prev All Colorado sections Next ›


Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.