Alabama § 19-1A-2 - Definitions.

§ 19-1A-2. Definitions.

In this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Account” means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user.

(2) “Agent” means a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney, whether denoted an agent, attorney-in-fact, or otherwise. The term includes an original agent, co-agent, successor agent, and person to which an agent’s authority is delegated.

(3) “Carries” means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication.

(4) “Catalogue of electronic communications” means information that identifies each person with which a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of the person.

(5) “Conservator” means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual. The term includes a limited conservator.

(6) “Content of an electronic communication” means information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication which:

(A) has been sent or received by a user;

(B) is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic-communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote-computing service to the public; and

(C) is not readily accessible to the public.

(7) “Court” means the circuit court or a probate court granted constitutional or statutory equitable jurisdiction.

(8) “Custodian” means a person that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user.

(9) “Designated recipient” means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user.

(10) “Digital asset” means an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record.

(11) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

(12) “Electronic communication” has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. Section 2510(12), as amended.

(13) “Electronic-communication service” means a custodian that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication.

(14) “Fiduciary” means an original, additional, or successor personal representative, conservator, agent, or trustee.

(15) “Good faith” means honesty in fact and reasonable under the circumstances.

(16) “Information” means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like.

(17) “Online tool” means an electronic service provided by a custodian that allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person.

(18) “Person” means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity.

(19) “Personal representative” means an executor, administrator, special administrator, or person that performs substantially the same function under the law of this state other than this chapter.

(20) “Power of attorney” means writing or other record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal, whether or not the term power of attorney is used.

(21) “Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.

(22) “Protected person” means an individual for whom a conservator has been appointed. The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a conservator is pending.

(23) “Record” means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(24) “Remote-computing service” means a custodian that provides to a user computer-processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic communications system, as defined in 18 U.S.C. Section 2510(14), as amended.

(25) “Terms-of-service agreement” means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian.

(26) “Trustee” means a fiduciary with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another. The term includes a successor trustee.

(27) “User” means a person that has an account with a custodian.

(28) “Will” includes a codicil or a testamentary instrument that merely appoints a personal representative or an executor or revokes or revises another will.