BP BHEAD INT H [Atlas:Generic]

AN ACT Relating to interception, transmission, recording, or disclosure of communications; adding a new section to chapter 9.73 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 9.73 RCW to read as follows:

(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.

(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.

(2) No person may install or use a pen register or trap and trace device without a prior court order issued under this section except as provided under subsection (6) of this section or RCW 9.73.070.

(3) A law enforcement officer may apply for and the superior court may issue orders and extensions of orders authorizing the installation and use of pen registers and trap and trace devices as provided in this section. The application shall be under oath and shall include the identity of the officer making the application and the identity of the law enforcement agency conducting the investigation. The applicant must certify that the information likely to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency.

(4) If the court finds that the information likely to be obtained by such installation and use is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation and finds reason to believe that the pen register or trap and trace device will lead to obtaining evidence of a crime, contraband, fruits of crime, things criminally possessed, weapons, or other things by means of which a crime has been committed or reasonably appears about to be committed, or will lead to learning the location of a person who is unlawfully restrained or reasonably believed to be a witness in a criminal investigation or for whose arrest there is probable cause, the court shall enter an ex parte order authorizing the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device. The order shall specify:

(a) The identity, if known, of the person to whom is leased or in whose name is listed the telephone line to which the pen register or trap and trace device is to be attached;

(b) The identity, if known, of the person who is the subject of the criminal investigation;

(c) The number and, if known, physical location of the telephone line to which the pen register or trap and trace device is to be attached and, in the case of a trap and trace device, the geographic limits of the trap and trace order; and

(d) A statement of the offense to which the information likely to be obtained by the pen register or trap and trace device relates.

The order shall direct, if the applicant has requested, the furnishing of information, facilities, and technical assistance necessary to accomplish the installation of the pen register or trap and trace device. An order issued under this section shall authorize the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device for a period not to exceed sixty days. Extensions of such an order may be granted, but only upon a new application for an order under subsection (3) of this section and upon the judicial findings required by this subsection. The period of extension shall be for a period not to exceed sixty days.

An order authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device shall direct that the order be sealed until otherwise ordered by the court and that the person owning or leasing the line to which the pen register or trap and trace device is attached, or who has been ordered by the court to provide assistance to the applicant, not disclose the existence of the pen register or trap and trace device or the existence of the investigation to the listed subscriber or to any other person, unless or until otherwise ordered by the court.

(5) Upon the request of an officer of a law enforcement agency authorized to install and use a pen register under this chapter, a provider of wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or other person shall furnish such law enforcement officer forthwith all information, facilities, and technical assistance necessary to accomplish the installation of the pen register unobtrusively and with a minimum of interference with the services that the person so ordered by the court accords the party with respect to whom the installation and use is to take place, if such assistance is directed by a court order as provided in subsection (4) of this section.

Upon the request of an officer of a law enforcement agency authorized to receive the results of a trap and trace device under this chapter, a provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or other person shall install such device forthwith on the appropriate line and shall furnish such law enforcement officer all additional information, facilities, and technical assistance including installation and operation of the device unobtrusively and with a minimum of interference with the services that the person so ordered by the court accords the party with respect to whom the installation and use is to take place, if such installation and assistance is directed by a court order as provided in subsection (4) of this section. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the results of the trap and trace device shall be furnished to the officer of a law enforcement agency, designated in the court order, at reasonable intervals during regular business hours for the duration of the order.

A provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or other person who furnishes facilities or technical assistance pursuant to this subsection shall be reasonably compensated by the law enforcement agency that requests the facilities or assistance for such reasonable expenses incurred in providing such facilities and assistance.

No cause of action shall lie in any court against any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, its officers, employees, agents, or other specified persons for providing information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the terms of a court order under this section. A good faith reliance on a court order under this section, a request pursuant to this section, a legislative authorization, or a statutory authorization is a complete defense against any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter or any other law.

(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a law enforcement officer and a prosecuting attorney or deputy prosecuting attorney who jointly and reasonably determine that an emergency situation exists that involves immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to any person that requires the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device before an order authorizing such installation and use can, with due diligence, be obtained, and there are grounds upon which an order could be entered under this chapter to authorize such installation and use, may have installed and use a pen register or trap and trace device if, within forty-eight hours after the installation has occurred, or begins to occur, an order approving the installation or use is issued in accordance with subsection (4) of this section. In the absence of an authorizing order, such use shall immediately terminate when the information sought is obtained, when the application for the order is denied or when forty-eight hours have lapsed since the installation of the pen register or trap and trace device, whichever is earlier. If an order approving the installation or use is not obtained within forty-eight hours, any information obtained is not admissible as evidence in any legal proceeding. The knowing installation or use by any law enforcement officer of a pen register or trap and trace device pursuant to this subsection without application for the authorizing order within forty-eight hours of the installation shall constitute a violation of this chapter and be punishable as a gross misdemeanor. A provider of a wire or electronic service, landlord, custodian, or other person who furnished facilities or technical assistance pursuant to this subsection shall be reasonably compensated by the law enforcement agency that requests the facilities or assistance for such reasonable expenses incurred in providing such facilities and assistance.