California Senate Bill SB1277 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: SB 1277INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Strickland FEBRUARY 23, 2012 An act to amend Section 631 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1277, as introduced, Strickland. Invasion of privacy. Under existing law, a person who intentionally taps or makes an unauthorized connection with a telegraph or telephone wire, line, cable, or instrument or who willfully and without the consent of all parties to the communication, reads or attempts to read or learn the contents or meaning of a message, report, or communication while the communication is in transit, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine or imprisonment, or both. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 631 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 631. (a)  Any   A  person who, by means of  any   a  machine, instrument, or contrivance, or in  any other   another  manner, intentionally taps, or makes  any  an  unauthorized connection, whether physically, electrically, acoustically, inductively, or otherwise, with  any   a  telegraph or telephone wire, line, cable, or instrument, including the wire, line, cable, or instrument of  any   an  internal telephonic communication system, or who willfully and without the consent of all parties to the communication, or in  any   an  unauthorized manner, reads, or attempts to read, or to learn the contents or meaning of  any   a  message, report, or communication while the  same   communication  is in transit or passing over  any   a  wire, line, or cable, or is being sent from, or received at  any   a  place within this state; or who uses, or attempts to use, in any manner, or for any purpose, or to communicate in any way,  any  information so obtained, or who aids, agrees with, employs, or conspires with  any   a  person or persons to unlawfully do, or permit, or cause to be done any of the acts or things mentioned above in this section, is punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by both a fine and imprisonment in the county jail or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170. If the person has previously been convicted of a violation of this section or Section 632, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or 636, he or she is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (b) This section shall not apply (1) to  any   a  public utility engaged in the business of providing communications services and facilities, or to the officers, employees or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited herein are for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct or operation of the services and facilities of the public utility, or (2) to the use of  any   an  instrument, equipment, facility, or service furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of a public utility, or (3) to  any   a  telephonic communication system used for communication exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city correctional facility. (c) Except as proof in an action or prosecution for violation of this section, no evidence obtained in violation of this section shall be admissible in  any   a  judicial, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding. (d) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1994.