2020 Oklahoma Statutes
Title 13. Common Carriers
§13-176.2. Definitions.

As used in the Security of Communications Act:

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;

2. “Aural acquisition” means obtaining knowledge of a communication through the sense of hearing which is contemporaneous with the communication;

3. “Aural transfer” means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception;

4. “Communication common carrier” means, for the purposes of the Security of Communications Act only, any telephone or telegraph company, rural telephone cooperative, communications transmission company or other public communications company under the laws of this state;

5. “Communication facility” means any and all public and private instrumentalities used or useful in the transmission of writing, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds of all kinds and includes mail, telephone, wire, radio, and all other means of communication;

6. “Contents”, when used with respect to any wire, oral or electronic communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport or meaning of that communication;

7. “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, but does not include:

• a.any wire or oral communication,
• b.any communication made through a tone-only paging device, or
• c.any communication from a tracking device;

8. “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 communication common carrier or other lawful supplier in the ordinary course of its business which is being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business, or being used by a communication common carrier in the ordinary course of business or being used by a law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of duties, or
• b.a hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal;

9. “Intercept” means the aural acquisition of the contents of any wire, oral or electronic communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical or other device;

10. “Judge of competent jurisdiction” means the Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals;

11. “Law enforcement officer” means any person who is employed by the United States, this state or political subdivision thereof and is empowered by law to conduct investigations of, or to make arrests for, offenses enumerated in the Security of Communications Act or similar federal offenses and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offenses;

12. “Oral communication” means any communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstance justifying such expectation;

13. “Person” means any individual, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, corporation or political subdivision including an employee or agent thereof; and

14. “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 such connection in a switching station, furnished or operated by any person engaged in providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of intrastate, interstate or foreign communications or communications affecting intrastate, interstate or foreign commerce.

Added by Laws 1982, c. 343, § 2. Amended by Laws 1989, c. 216, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1989; Laws 1989, c. 348, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1989; Laws 2004, c. 289, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2004; Laws 2007, c. 339, § 1, eff. July 1, 2007.