North Dakota § 47-36-01 - Definitions

§ 47-36-01. Definitions

For purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 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 a user or provides goods or services to the user. 2. "Agent" means an attorney in fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable power of attorney. 3. "Carries" means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication. 4. "Catalog 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 or guardian" means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual. The term includes a limited conservator or guardian. 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 a district court with jurisdiction over matter that relates to this chapter. 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" 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 photo-optical system that affects 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 object; and d. Electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial institution in a communications system used for the electronic storage and transfer of funds. 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, an additional, or a successor personal representative, conservator or guardian, agent, or trustee. 15. "Information" includes data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, and databases. 16. "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. 17. "Person" means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or other legal entity. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. "Personal representative" means an executor, administrator, special administrator, or person that performs substantially the same function under the laws of this state other than this chapter. "Power of attorney" means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal. "Principal" means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney. "Protected person" means an individual for whom a conservator or guardian has been appointed. The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a conservator or guardian is pending. "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. "Remote computing service" means a custodian that provides to a user computer processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo-optical, or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications. "Terms-of-service agreement" means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian. "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. "User" means a person that has an account with a custodian. "Will" includes a codicil, a testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and an instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument.