2023 Texas Statutes › Code of Criminal Procedure › Title 1 - Code of Criminal Procedure › Chapter 18A - Detection, Interception, and Use of Wire, Oral, and Electronic Communications › Subchapter A. General Provisions › Article 18A.001. Definitions

In this chapter:
(1)  "Access," "computer," "computer network," "computer system," and "effective consent" have the meanings assigned by Section 33.01, Penal Code.
(2)  "Aggrieved person" means a person who was a party to an intercepted wire, oral, or electronic communication or a person against whom the interception was directed.
(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 a person engaged as a common carrier for hire in the transmission of wire or electronic communications.
(5)  "Computer trespasser" means a person who accesses a protected computer without effective consent of the owner and has no reasonable expectation of privacy in a communication transmitted to, through, or from the protected computer.  The term does not include a person who accesses the protected computer under an existing contractual relationship with the owner or operator of the computer.
(6)  "Contents," with respect to a wire, oral, or electronic communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.
(7)  "Covert entry" means an entry that is made into or onto premises and that, if not authorized by a court order under this chapter, would violate the Penal Code.
(8)  "Department" means the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas.
(9)  "Director" means:
(A)  the public safety director of the department; or
(B)  if the public safety director is absent or unable to serve, the assistant director of the department.
(10)  "Electronic communication" means a transfer of any signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence transmitted wholly or partly by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system.  The term does not include:
(A)  a wire or oral communication;
(B)  a communication made through a tone-only paging device; or
(C)  a communication from a tracking device.
(11)  "Electronic communications service" means a service that provides to users of the service the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.
(12)  "ESN reader," "pen register," and "trap and trace device" have the meanings assigned by Article 18B.001.
(13)  "Intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of a wire, oral, or electronic communication through the use of an interception device.
(14)  "Interception device" means an electronic, mechanical, or other device that may be used for the nonconsensual interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.  The term does not include a telephone or telegraph instrument, the equipment or a facility used for the transmission of electronic communications, or a component of the equipment or a facility used for the transmission of electronic communications if the instrument, equipment, facility, or component is:
(A)  provided to a subscriber or user by a provider of a wire or electronic communications service in the ordinary course of the service provider's business and used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of the subscriber's or user's business;
(B)  provided by a subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of a wire or electronic communications service for use in the ordinary course of the subscriber's or user's business;
(C)  used by a communication common carrier in the ordinary course of the carrier's business; or
(D)  used by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of the officer's duties.
(15)  "Interception order" means an order authorizing the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication.
(16)  "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means:
(A)  an officer of this state or a political subdivision of this state who is authorized by law to investigate or make arrests for offenses described by Article 18A.101; or
(B)  an attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of those offenses.
(17)  "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a judge described by Article 18A.051.
(18)  "Mobile tracking device" has the meaning assigned by Article 18B.201.
(19)  "Oral communication" means a communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that the communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying that expectation.  The term does not include an electronic communication.
(20)  "Prosecutor" means a district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney performing the duties of a district attorney, with jurisdiction in the county within an administrative judicial region described by Article 18A.053.
(21)  "Protected computer" means a computer, computer network, or computer system that is:
(A)  owned by a financial institution or governmental entity; or
(B)  used by or for a financial institution or governmental entity, if conduct constituting an offense affects that use.
(22)  "Residence" means a structure or the portion of a structure used as a person's home or fixed place of habitation to which the person indicates an intent to return after a temporary absence.
(23)  "User" means a person who uses an electronic communications service and is authorized by the service provider to use the service.
(24)  "Wire communication" means an aural transfer made wholly or partly through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other similar connection between the point of origin and the point of reception, including the use of the connection in a switching station, if those facilities are provided or operated by a person authorized to provide or operate the facilities for the transmission of communications as a communication common carrier.
Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1058 (H.B. 2931), Sec. 1.01, eff. January 1, 2019.