SB 690

(1) Existing law prohibits tapping a communication wire or intercepting or recording a telephone communication, as specified, without the consent of all parties. Existing law exempts specified communication intercepts, including those in a correctional institution and those required for utility maintenance purposes. A violation of these provisions is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would also exempt communication intercepts for a commercial business purpose from those prohibitions. The bill would define a commercial business purpose to mean the processing of personal information either performed to further a business purpose or subject to a consumer’s opt-out rights. (2) Existing law defines a “pen register” for these purposes to mean 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 but not the contents of a communication, with specified exceptions. Existing law defines a “trap and trace device” as a device or process that captures the incoming electronic or other impulses that identify the originating number or other dialing, routing, addressing, or signaling information reasonably likely to identify the source of a wire or electronic communication but not the contents of a communication. The bill would specify that a pen register does not include a device or process used in a manner consistent with a commercial business purpose. This bill would also specify that a trap and trace device does not include a device or process that is used in a manner consistent with a commercial business purpose. (3) Existing law authorizes a person who has been injured by a violation of those prohibitions to bring an action against the person who committed the violation to enjoin and restrain the violation, as well as to bring an action for monetary damages, as specified. This bill would specify that this authorization does not apply to the processing of personal information for a commercial business purpose.