2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees › Article 16F - Electronic Communications Privacy › Section 10-16F-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act:
A. "adverse result" means:
(1) danger to the life or physical safety of a natural person;
(2) flight from prosecution;
(3) destruction of or tampering with evidence;
(4) intimidation of a potential witness; or
(5) serious jeopardy to an investigation;
B. "authorized possessor" means a natural person who owns and possesses an electronic device or a natural person who, with the owner's consent, possesses an electronic device;
C. "electronic communication" means the transfer of a sign, a signal, a writing, an image, a sound, a datum or intelligence of any nature in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or photo-optical system;
D. "electronic communication information":
(1) means information about an electronic communication or the use of an electronic communication service, including:
(a) the contents, sender, recipients, format or the sender's or recipients' precise or approximate location at any point during the communication;
(b) the time or date the communication was created, sent or received; and
(c) any information, including an internet protocol address, pertaining to a person or device participating in the communication; and
(2) excludes subscriber information;
E. "electronic communication service" means a service that:
(1) allows its subscribers or users to send or receive electronic communications, including by acting as an intermediary in the transmission of electronic communications; or
(2) stores electronic communication information;
F. "electronic device" means a device that stores, generates or transmits information in electronic form;
G. "electronic device information":
(1) means information stored on or generated through the operation of an electronic device; and
(2) includes the current and prior locations of the device;
H. "electronic information" means electronic communication information or electronic device information;
I. "government entity" means:
(1) a department, agency or political subdivision of the state; or
(2) a natural person acting for or on behalf of the state or a political subdivision of the state;
J. "service provider" means a person offering an electronic communication service;
K. "specific consent":
(1) means consent provided directly to a government entity seeking information; and
(2) includes consent provided when the government entity is the addressee, the intended recipient or a member of the intended audience of an electronic communication, regardless of whether the originator of the communication had actual knowledge that the addressee, intended recipient or member of the specific audience is a government entity, except where the government entity has taken deliberate steps to hide the government entity's government association; and
L. "subscriber information" means:
(1) the name, street address, telephone number, email address or other similar type of contact information provided by a subscriber to a service provider to establish or maintain an account or communication channel;
(2) a subscriber or account number or identifier; or
(3) the length and type of service used by a user or a service-provider subscriber.
History:
Laws 2019, ch. 39, § 2.
ANNOTATIONS
Effective dates.
— Laws 2019, ch. 39 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 14, 2019, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.
"Other electronic communication information" construed.
— Section 10-16F-6 NMSA 1978 requires each government entity to report, among other data, the number of times it sought or obtained electronic communication content, location information, "electronic device information, excluding location information," and "other electronic communication information"; in light of the definition provided in 10-16F-2(D) NMSA 1978, the phrase "other electronic communication information" means any electronic communications information other than the content of an electronic communication or the location of the sender or recipient, which may include the time or date of the communication, an internet protocol address, or the identity of the sender or recipient.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(8/19/21), Att'y Gen. Adv. Ltr. 2021-07.