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Alaska Statutes.

Title 42. Public Utilities and Carriers

Chapter 20. Telegraph and Telephone Systems and Cable Lines

Section 390. Definitions.

previous: Section 340. [Renumbered as AS 42.20.310
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AS 42.20.390. Definitions.

In AS 42.20.300 - 42.20.390,

(1) "communications common carrier" means a business or person engaged as a common carrier for hire in the transmission of communications by wire, cable, satellite, electromagnetic waves, or radio, not including radio broadcasting;

(2) "contents" includes information obtained from a private communication concerning the existence, substance, purport, or meaning of the communication, or the identity of a party of the communication;

(3) "eavesdropping device" means a device or apparatus, including an induction coil, that can be used to intercept an oral, wire, or electronic communication, other than

(A) a hearing aid or similar device used for the restoration of subnormal hearing to not better than normal; or

(B) a telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component of such an instrument, equipment, or facility

(i) being used by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business; or

(ii) furnished to a 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;

(4) "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, including a cellular or cordless telephone communication, but does not include

(A) wire or oral communications;

(B) communications made through a tone-only paging device;

(C) communications made through a tracking device consisting of an electronic or mechanical device that permits the tracking of the movement of a person or object; or

(D) communications that are disseminated by the sender with the intent or expectation, or through a method of transmission that is so configured, that the communication is readily accessible to the general public;

(5) "electronic communication service" means a service that provides to users of the service the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications;

(6) "employee" includes a person who is an officer, agent, or employee of, or a person under contract with, a business or a government entity;

(7) "intercept" means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of an oral, wire, or electronic communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device, including the acquisition of the contents by simultaneous transmission or by recording;

(8) "minor" means a child under 18 years of age who has not had the disabilities of a minor removed as described in AS 09.55.590 ;

(9) "oral communication" means human speech used to communicate information from one party to another;

(10) "parent" means a natural person who is the minor's natural or adoptive parent, or who has been legally appointed as the minor's guardian, with parental rights that are not terminated by court order and who is not prohibited by court order from communicating with the minor, or a stepparent as defined in AS 25.23.240 who is not prohibited by court order from communicating with the minor;

(11) "private communication" means an oral, wire, or electronic communication uttered or transmitted by a person who has a reasonable expectation that the communication is not subject to interception;

(12) "wire communication" means human speech used to communicate information from one party to another in whole or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by wire, cable, or other similar connection between the point of origin and the point of reception furnished or operated by a telephone, telegraph, or radio company for hire as a communications common carrier, but does not include the radio portion of a cordless telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless telephone handset and the base unit.