RCW 9.73.260 Pen Registers, Trap and Trace Devices, Cell Site Simulator Devices

• Library: Washington Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through the 2023 1st Special Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: RCW 9.73.260

(1) As used in this section:

(a) "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, and such term includes any electronic storage of such communication.

(b) "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 photo-optical system, but does not include:

(i) Any wire or oral communication;

(ii) Any communication made through a tone-only paging device; or

(iii) Any communication from a tracking device, but solely to the extent the tracking device is owned by the applicable law enforcement agency.

(c) "Electronic communication service" means any service that provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.

(d) "Pen register" means a device that records or decodes electronic or other impulses that identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which such device is attached, but such term does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any device used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business.

(e) "Trap and trace device" means a device that captures the incoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic communication was transmitted.

(f) "Cell site simulator device" means a device that transmits or receives radio waves for the purpose of conducting one or more of the following operations:

(i) Identifying, locating, or tracking the movements of a communications device;

(ii) intercepting, obtaining, accessing, or forwarding the communications, stored data, or metadata of a communications device;

(iii) affecting the hardware or software operations or functions of a communications device;

(iv) forcing transmissions from or connections to a communications device;

(v) denying a communications device access to other communications devices, communications protocols, or services; or

(vi) spoofing or simulating a communications device, cell tower, cell site, or service[,] including, but not limited to, an international mobile subscriber identity catcher or other invasive cell phone or telephone surveillance or eavesdropping device that mimics a cell phone tower and sends out signals to cause cell phones in the area to transmit their locations, identifying information, and communications content, or a passive interception device or digital analyzer that does not send signals to a communications device under surveillance. A cell site simulator device does not include any device used or installed by an electric utility, as defined in RCW 19.280.020, solely to the extent such device is used by that utility to measure electrical usage, to provide services to customers, or to operate the electric grid.