Colorado § 16-15-101 - Definitions.

§ 16-15-101. Definitions.

As used in this article, 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. 601, § 1, 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 title 18, C.R.S., and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of those offenses.

(7) "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means any justice of the supreme court of Colorado and 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 that belief, but does not include any electronic communication.

(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.

(8.6) "Tracking device" means an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the movement of a person or object.

(8.7) "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.

Source: L. 71: p. 484, § 2. C.R.S. 1963: § 39-24-1. L. 88: (1), (3), IP(4), (4)(a), (5), (8), and (9) amended and (1.5), (3.3), (3.5), (3.7), (4.5), and (8.5) to (8.7) added, p. 684, § 1, effective May 29. L. 97: (3.3) and (9) amended, p. 601, § 1, effective August 6.

ANNOTATION

This section is merely definitional and proscribes nothing. People v. Morton, 189 Colo. 198, 539 P.2d 1255 (1975).

The use of pen registers is not governed by the wiretapping statute. People v. Wahl, 716 P.2d 123 (Colo. 1986).

Statements made by juvenile not protected oral communications under this act and fail the test established in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), where one who is speaking in the actual presence of a police officer has neither a subjectively nor an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy. People in Interest of A.W., 982 P.2d 842 (Colo. 1999).

However, later statements made by juvenile to parent were protected oral communications under this act where juvenile had a subjectively and objectively reasonable expectation of privacy after receiving assurances from the police officer that "nothing" was behind a two-way mirror and that the officer would not be listening in. People in Interest of A.W., 982 P.2d 842 (Colo. 1999).

Applied in In re P.R. v. District Court, 637 P.2d 346 (Colo. 1981); People v. Velasquez, 641 P.2d 943 (Colo. 1982).