Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 19.2 > Chapter 6 - Interception of Wire, Electronic or Oral Communications

• Account: means any account with a savings institution and includes a checking, time, interest, or savings account. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Aggrieved person: means a person who was a party to any intercepted wire, electronic or oral communication or a person against whom the interception was directed;

  "Aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception;

  "Communications common carrier" means any person engaged as a common carrier for hire in communication by wire or radio or in radio transmission of energy;

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

  "Electronic, mechanical or other device" means any device or apparatus that can be used to intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication other than:

  (a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any component thereof, (i) furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or furnished by the subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such service and used in the ordinary course of the subscriber's or user's business; or (ii) being used by a communications common carrier in the ordinary course of its business, or by an investigative or law-enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties;

  (b) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal;

  "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. See Virginia Code 19.2-61

• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Association: means a savings and loan association or building and loan association that is authorized by law to accept deposits and to hold itself out to the public as engaged in the savings and loan business. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Contents: when used with respect to any wire, electronic or oral communication, includes any information concerning the substance, purport or meaning of that communication;

  "Electronic, mechanical or other device" means any device or apparatus that can be used to intercept a wire, electronic or oral communication other than:

  (a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any component thereof, (i) furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or furnished by the subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such service and used in the ordinary course of the subscriber's or user's business; or (ii) being used by a communications common carrier in the ordinary course of its business, or by an investigative or law-enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties;

  (b) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal;

  "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. See Virginia Code 19.2-61

• Court: means any court vested with appropriate jurisdiction under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 19.2-5
• Electronic communication service: means any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications;

  "Electronic communication system" means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications;

  "Electronic storage" means any temporary, intermediate storage of a wire or electronic communication incidental to the electronic transmission thereof and any storage of such communication by an electronic communication service for purposes of backup protection of such communication;

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

  "Investigative or law-enforcement officer" means any officer of the United States or of a state or political subdivision thereof, who is empowered by law to conduct investigations of or to make arrests for offenses enumerated in this chapter, and any attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offenses;

  "Judge of competent jurisdiction" means a judge of any circuit court of the Commonwealth with general criminal jurisdiction;

  "Monitor" or "monitoring" means the actual auditory or visual acquisition of an intercepted communication by any means;

  "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectations but does not include any electronic communication;

  "Pen register" means a device or process that records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information transmitted by an instrument or facility from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted; however, such information shall not include the contents of any communication. See Virginia Code 19.2-61

• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Entity: means any corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Financial institution: means any bank, trust company, savings institution, industrial loan association, consumer finance company, or credit union. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Home loan: means a real estate loan the security for which is a lien on real estate comprising a single-family dwelling or a dwelling unit for four or fewer families in the aggregate. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Member: includes such persons with a joint and survivorship or other multiple owner or borrower relationship, which persons shall constitute a single membership for purposes of this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Person: shall include individuals, a trust, an estate, a partnership, an association, an order, a corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity;

  6. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Person: means any employee or agent of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust or corporation;

  "Readily accessible to the general public" means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not (i) scrambled or encrypted; (ii) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication; (iii) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission; (iv) transmitted over a communication system provided by a communications common carrier, unless the communication is a tone-only paging system communication; or (v) transmitted on frequencies allocated under Part 25, subpart D, E, or F of Part 74, or Part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under Part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;

  "Remote computing service" means the provision to the public of computer storage or processing services by means of an electronic communications system;

  "Trap and trace device" means a device or process that captures the incoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number or other dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information reasonably likely to identify the source of a wire or electronic communication; however, such information shall not include the contents of any communication;

  "User" means any person or entity who uses an electronic communication service and is duly authorized by the provider of such service to engage in such use;

  "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, 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 communications. See Virginia Code 19.2-61

• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Savings bank: means a savings institution specifically chartered under the laws of the Commonwealth, another state or a territory of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the United States as a savings bank. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Savings institution: means a savings and loan association, a building and loan association, or savings bank, whether organized as a capital stock corporation or a nonstock corporation, that is authorized by law to accept deposits and to hold itself out to the public as engaged in the savings institution business. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Sheriff: shall include deputy sheriffs and such other persons designated in § 15. See Virginia Code 8.01-2
• State association: means an association incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• State savings bank: means a savings bank organized and incorporated under the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• State savings institution: means a savings institution incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Stock association: means an association that issues shares of capital stock. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Stock institution: means a savings institution that issues shares of capital stock. See Virginia Code 6.2-1100
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254