PUBLIC LAW 99-508--OCT. 21, 1986
TITLE II--STORED WIRE AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICA-
TIONS AND TRANSACTIONAL RECORDS ACCESS
Sec. 201. TITLE 18 AMENDMENT.
Title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after
chapter 119 the following:
"CHAPTER 121--STORED WIRE AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND
TRANSACTIONAL RECORDS ACCESS
...
SS 2701. Unlawful access to stored communications
"(a) Offense.--Except as provided in subsection (c) of this
section whoever--
"(1) intentionally accesses without authorization a
facility through which an electronic communication service
is provided; or
"(2) intentionally exceeds an authorization to access
that facility;
and thereby obtains, alters, or prevents authorized access to a
wire or electronic communication while it is in electronic
storage in such system shall be punished as provided in
subsection (b) of this section.
"(b) Punishment.--The punishment for an offense under
subsection (a) of this section is--
"(1) if the offense is committed for purposes of
commercial advantage, malicious destruction or damage, or
private commercial gain--
"(A) a fine of not more than $250,ooo or
imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in
the case of a first offense under this subparagraph;
and
"(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for
not more than two years, or both, for any subsequent
offense under this subparagraph; and
"(2) a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment
for not more than six months, or both, in any other case.
"(c) Exceptions.--Subsection (a) of this section does not
apply with respect to conduct authorized--
"(1) by the person or entity providing a wire or
electronic communications service;
"(2) by a user of that service with respect to a
communication of or intended for that user; or
"(3) in section 2703,2704 of 2518 of this title.
ss. 2702. Disclosure of contents
"(a) Prohibitions.--Except as provided in subsection (b)--
"(1) a person or entity providing an electronic
communication service to the public shall not knowingly
divulge to any person or entity the contents of a
communication while in electronic storage by that service;
and
"(2) a person or entity providing remote computing
service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any
person or entity the contents of any communication which
is carried or maintained on that service--
"(A) on behalf of, and received by means of
electronic transmission from (or created by means of
computer processing of communications received by
means of electronic transmission from), a subscriber
or customer of such service; and
"(B) solely for the purposed of providing storage or
computer processing services to such subscriber or
customer, if the provider is not authorized to access
the contents of any such communications for purposes
of providing any services other than storage or
computer processing.
"(b) Exceptions.-- A person or entity may divulge the
contents of a communication--
"(1) to an addressee or intended recipient of such
communication or an agent of such addressee or intended
recipient;
"(2) as otherwise authorized in section 2516,
2511(2)(1) , or 2703 of this title;
"(3) with the lawful consent of the originator or an
addressee or intended recipient of such communication, or
the subscriber in the case of remote computing service;
"(4) to a person employed or authorized or whose
facilities are used to forward such communication to its
destination;
"(5) as may be necessarily incident to the rendition
of the service or to the protection of the rights or
property of the provider of that service; or
"(6) to a law enforcement agency, if such contents--
"(A) were inadvertently obtained by the service
provider; and
"(B) appear to pertain to the commission of a
crime.
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