As used in this chapter:

“Content” means information, other than login information, that is contained in a protected personal online account, accessible to the account holder, and not publicly available.

“Educational institution” means a person that provides students an organized program of study or training that is academic, technical, trade-oriented, or preparatory for gaining employment and for which the person gives academic credit. “Educational institution” includes:

(1) A public or private institution; and

(2) An agent or designee of the educational institution.

“Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

“Employee” means an individual who provides services or labor to an employer in exchange for salary, wages, or the equivalent or, for an unpaid intern, academic credit or occupational experience. “Employee” includes:

(1) A prospective employee who has:

(A) Expressed to the employer an interest in being an employee; or

(B) Applied for or is applying for employment by, or is being recruited for employment by, the employer; and

(2) An independent contractor.

“Employer” means a person that provides salary, wages, or the equivalent to an employee in exchange for services or labor or engages the services or labor of an unpaid intern. “Employer” includes an agent or designee of the employer.

“Login information” means a username and password, password, or other means or credentials of authentication required to access or control:

(1) A protected personal online account; or

(2) An electronic device, which the employee’s employer or the student‘s educational institution has not supplied or paid for in full, that itself provides access to or control over the account.

“Login requirement” means a requirement that login information be provided before a protected personal online account or electronic device can be accessed or controlled.

“Online” means accessible by means of a computer network or the Internet.

“Person” means an individual; estate; business or nonprofit entity; public corporation; government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; or other legal entity.

“Protected personal online account” means any online account maintained by an employee or a student, including social media or electronic mail accounts, that is protected by a login requirement. “Protected personal online account” does not include an account, or the discrete portion of an account, that was:

(1) Opened at an employer’s behest, or provided by an employer and intended to be used solely or primarily on behalf of or under the direction of the employer; or

(2) Opened at an educational institution’s behest, or provided by an educational institution and intended to be used solely or primarily on behalf of or under the direction of the educational institution.

“Publicly available” means available to the general public.

“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.

“Specifically identified content” means data or information stored in a protected personal online account that is identified with sufficient particularity to distinguish the discrete individual pieces of content being sought from a substantial percentage of other data or information stored in the account with which it may share similar characteristics. The identification may be based on identification or verification by an individual creator, poster, sender, viewer or recipient of characteristics of that content that in the aggregate allow the employee or student requested to provide access to that content to distinguish that content with reasonable certainty from any other data or information stored in the account with which it may share similar characteristics.

“State” means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

“Student” means an individual who participates in an educational institution’s organized program of study or training. “Student” includes:

(1) A prospective student who expresses to the institution an interest in being admitted to, applies for admission to, or is being recruited for admission by, the educational institution; and

(2) A parent or legal guardian of a student under the age of eighteen years.