Law / United States / 
Delaware
Delaware Violation of Privacy Statute (Surveillance and Interception Clauses)
In force.
An interception and recording consent rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not trespass on property intending to subject anyone to eavesdropping or other surveillance in a private place.
- Do not install, in a private place, a device for observing, photographing, recording, amplifying or broadcasting sounds or events there, without the consent of the person or persons entitled to privacy there.
- Do not install or use, outside a private place, a device for hearing, recording, amplifying or broadcasting sounds originating in that place that would not ordinarily be audible or comprehensible outside, without that consent.
- Do not intercept a message by telephone, telegraph, letter or other means of communicating privately, including a private conversation, without the consent of all parties to it.
- Do not divulge the existence or contents of such a message without the consent of the sender and the receiver, where you know it was unlawfully intercepted or you learned of it through employment with an agency that transmits such messages.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Violating paragraph (a)(1), (2), (3), (4) or (5) is a class A misdemeanor under 11 Del. C. § 1335(c), punishable by up to 1 year of incarceration and a fine of up to $2,300 under the general misdemeanor sentencing scale in § 4206(a).
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Criminal prosecution by the State; the section names no private civil action for these paragraphs.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does this all-party consent requirement for intercepting a private message override 11 Del. C. § 2402(c)(4)'s one-party consent exception for the same conduct?
What this law does
Delaware makes it a crime, except as authorized by law, to trespass on property intending to subject anyone to eavesdropping or other surveillance in a private place. It is also a crime to install, in a private place, a device for observing, photographing, recording, amplifying or broadcasting sounds or events there, without the consent of the person or persons entitled to privacy there.
The same is true of installing or using, outside a private place, a device for hearing, recording, amplifying or broadcasting sounds originating in that place that would not ordinarily be audible or comprehensible outside, without that consent. Delaware's wiretap and eavesdropping chapter permits a person to intercept a wire, oral or electronic communication where the person is a party to it or one of the parties has given prior consent.
This violation-of-privacy statute instead requires the consent of all parties to intercept a message by telephone, telegraph, letter or other means of communicating privately, including a private conversation. It also bars divulging the existence or contents of such a message without the sender's and the receiver's consent, by a person who knows it was unlawfully intercepted or who learned of it through employment with an agency that transmits such messages.
The statute does not reach overhearing messages through a regularly installed instrument on a telephone party line or an extension or any other regularly installed instrument or equipment, acts by the telephone company or its subscribers under the company's own rules, telephone or telegraph carrier personnel performing their duties, divulging a message's existence under a subpoena, or acts by police officers under other named sections of this title. A violation of any of paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(5) is a class A misdemeanor.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app records conversations, processes voice recordings or deploys a chatbot.