Law / United States / 
Texas
Unlawful Interception of Communications and Civil Remedy
Tex. Penal Code § 16.02; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 123.001-.004
In force since .
An interception and recording consent rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not intercept, or procure another to intercept, a wire, oral or electronic communication unless you are a party to it or one of its parties has given prior consent, and never for the purpose of committing an unlawful act; one party's consent is enough.
- Do not disclose the contents of a communication you know or have reason to know were obtained by unlawful interception, and do not use contents you know, or are reckless about whether, were obtained that way.
- As a communication common carrier's officer, employee, or agent, you may intercept, disclose, or use a communication in the normal course of employment where necessary to service or to protect the carrier's rights or property, but you may not use service observation or random monitoring outside mechanical or service-quality checks.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Intercepting, disclosing or using a communication in violation of Penal Code section 16.02(b) is a felony of the second degree, punishable by imprisonment for 2 to 20 years and a fine of up to $10,000 (Penal Code section 12.33); manufacturing, possessing, selling or advertising an interception device for nonconsensual interception, and obstructing an authorized interception, are state jail felonies.
Statutory damages
Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 123.004 entitles a prevailing party to an injunction, statutory damages of $10,000 for each occurrence, all actual damages in excess of $10,000, punitive damages, and attorney's fees and costs; these are cumulative remedies rather than a greater-of choice.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 10,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
A civil action by a party to the intercepted communication under Civil Practice and Remedies Code chapter 123; criminal prosecution by the State under Penal Code section 16.02.
What this law does
It is an offense to intentionally intercept, or procure another to intercept, a wire, oral or electronic communication, to intentionally disclose its contents knowing or having reason to know they were obtained by an unlawful interception, or to intentionally use them knowing or being reckless about whether they were.
It is an affirmative defense that a person not acting under color of law is a party to the communication or one of its parties has given prior consent, unless the communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing an unlawful act.
It is also an affirmative defense to intercept or access an electronic communication made through a system configured so that it is readily accessible to the general public, and for a provider of electronic communications service to record that a communication was initiated or completed to protect itself, another provider or a user from fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use.
A party to a communication, not a third party, may sue a person who intercepts it, uses or divulges information the person knows or reasonably should know was obtained by intercepting it, or, as a landlord, building operator or communication common carrier, aids or knowingly permits the interception.
Interception for that civil action is the aural acquisition of a communication's contents through an interception device without the consent of a party to it, so one party's consent is enough there too, and it excludes the ordinary use of telephone equipment, a hearing aid, a radio or television receiver, or a cable system relaying a public broadcast.
That chapter's communication is speech uttered by a person or information including speech transmitted with the aid of a wire or cable, narrower than the offense's wire, oral or electronic communication. A prevailing plaintiff recovers an injunction, statutory damages of $10,000 for each occurrence, all actual damages above $10,000, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
A communication common carrier's officer, employee or agent may intercept, disclose or use a communication in the normal course of employment where necessary to service or to protect the carrier's rights or property, but a carrier may not use service observation or random monitoring except for mechanical or service-quality checks.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app records conversations, processes voice recordings or deploys a chatbot.