Wisconsin Code § 968.27

Definitions
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In ss. 968.28 to 968.375:
(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 a transfer containing the human
voice at any point from the point of origin to the point of
reception.
(3) “Contents,” when used with respect to any wire, elec-

tronic, or oral communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.
(4) “Electronic communication” means any transfer of signs,
signals, writing, images, sounds, data or intelligence of any nature
wholly or partially transmitted by a wire, radio, electromagnetic,
photoelectronic or photooptical system. “Electronic communication” does not include any of the following:
(a) The radio portion of a cordless telephone communication
that is transmitted between the cordless telephone handset and
the base unit.
(b) Any wire or oral communication.
(c) Any communication made through a tone-only paging
device.
(d) Any communication from a tracking device.
(5) “Electronic communication service” means any service
that provides its users with the ability to send or receive wire or
electronic communications.
(6) “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 those communications.
(7) “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 facilities, or any component thereof, which is:
1. Furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of electronic or wire 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
2. Being used by a provider of electronic or wire communication service in the ordinary course of its business, or by a law
enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his or her duties.
(b) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal.
(8) “Electronic storage” means any of the following:
(a) Any temporary, intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication incidental to the electronic transmission
thereof.
(b) Any storage of a wire or electronic communication by an
electronic communication service for purposes of backup protection of the communication.
(9) “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.
(10) “Investigative or law enforcement officer” means any officer of this state or political subdivision thereof, who is empowered by the laws of this state to conduct investigations of or to
make arrests for violations of the laws that he or she is employed
to enforce, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or
participate in the prosecution of those offenses.
(11) “Judge” means the judge sitting at the time an application is made under s. 968.30 or his or her successor.
(12) “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. “Oral communication” does not include any
electronic communication.
(13) “Pen register” means a device that records or decodes
electronic or other impulses that identify the numbers dialed or
otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which the device is
attached. “Pen register” 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 communications 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.
(14) “Readily accessible to the general public” means, with
respect to a radio communication, that the communication is not
any of the following:
(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 communication system provided by a
common carrier, including a commercial mobile radio service
provider, as defined in s. 196.01 (2g), unless the communication
is a tone-only paging system communication.
(e) Transmitted on frequencies allocated under 47 CFR part
25, subpart D, E or F of part 74, or part 94, unless in the case of a
communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under 47
CFR part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a 2-way voice communication by radio.
(14g) “Remote computing service” means computer storage
or processing that is provided to the public by means of an electronic communications system.
(15) “Trap and trace device” means a device that captures the
incoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic communication was transmitted.
(16) “User” means any person who or entity that:
(a) Uses an electronic communication service; and
(b) Is duly authorized by the provider of the service to engage
in that use.
(17) “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 the connection in any switching station, furnished or operated by any person in providing or operating the facilities for the transmission of intrastate, interstate or foreign
communications. “Wire communication” includes the electronic
storage of any such aural transfer.

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