Pennsylvania § 5742 - Disclosure of contents and records.

§ 5742. Disclosure of contents and records.

(a) Prohibitions.--Except as provided in subsection (b) and (c):

(1) A person or entity providing an electronic communication service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents of a communication while in electronic storage by that service:

(i) On behalf of, and received by means of electronic transmission from, or created by means of computer processing of communications received by means of electronic transmission from, a subscriber or customer of the service.

(ii) Solely for the purpose of providing storage or computer processing services to the subscriber or customer, if the provider is not authorized to access the contents of any such communication for the purpose of providing any services other than storage or computer processing.

(2) A person or entity providing remote computing service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the contents of any communication which is carried or maintained on that service:

(i) On behalf of, and received by means of electronic transmission from, or created by means of computer processing of communications received by means of electronic transmission from, a subscriber or customer of the service.

(ii) Solely for the purpose of providing storage or computer processing services to the subscriber or customer, if the provider is not authorized to access the contents of any such communication for the purpose of providing any services other than storage or computer processing.

(3) A person or entity providing an electronic communication service or remote computing service to the public shall not knowingly divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to, or customer of, the service.

(b) Exceptions.--A person or entity may divulge the contents of a communication:

(1) to an addressee or intended recipient of the communication or an agent of the addressee or intended recipient;

(2) as otherwise authorized in section 5704(1) (relating to prohibition of interception and disclosure of communications), 5708 (relating to order authorizing interception of wire, electronic or oral communications) or 5743 (relating to governmental access);

(3) with the lawful consent of the originator or an addressee or intended recipient of the communication, or the subscriber in the case of remote computing service;

(4) to a person employed or authorized or whose facilities are used to forward the communication to its destination;

(5) as may be necessarily incident to the rendition of the service or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider of the service; or

(6) to a law enforcement agency, if the contents:

(i) Were inadvertently obtained by the service provider.

(ii) Appear to pertain to the commission of a crime.

(c) Exceptions for disclosure of records or other information.--A person or entity may divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to, or customer of, the service if any of the following paragraphs apply:

(1) A record or other information may be divulged incident to any service or other business operation or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider.

(2) A record or other information may be divulged to any of the following:

(i) An investigative or law enforcement official as authorized in section 5743.

(ii) The subscriber or customer upon request.

(iii) A third party, upon receipt from the requester of adequate proof of lawful consent from the subscriber to, or customer of, the service to release the information to the third party.

(iv) A party to a legal proceeding, upon receipt from the party of a court order entered under subsection (c.1). This subparagraph does not apply to an investigative or law enforcement official authorized under section 5743.

(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a record or other information may be divulged as authorized by a Commonwealth statute or as authorized by a Commonwealth regulatory agency with oversight over the person or entity.

(4) Subject to paragraph (2), a record or other information may be divulged as authorized by Federal law or as authorized by a Federal regulatory agency having oversight over the person or entity.

(c.1) Order for release of records.--

(1) An order to divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber or customer under subsection (c)(2)(iv) must be approved by a court presiding over the proceeding in which a party seeks the record or other information.

(2) The order may be issued only after the subscriber or customer received notice from the party seeking the record or other information and was given an opportunity to be heard.

(3) The court may issue a preliminary order directing the provider to furnish the court with the identity of or contact information for the subscriber or customer if the party does not possess this information.

(4) An order for disclosure of a record or other information shall be issued only if the party seeking disclosure demonstrates specific and articulable facts to show that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the record or other information sought is relevant and material to the proceeding. In making its determination, the court shall consider the totality of the circumstances, including input of the subscriber or customer, if any, and the likely impact of the provider.

(Oct. 9, 2008, P.L.1403, No.111, eff. imd.)

2008 Amendment. Act 111 amended the section heading and subsec. (a) intro. par. and added subsecs. (a)(3), (c) and (c.1).

Cross References. Section 5742 is referred to in section 5746 of this title.