Law / United States / 
Virginia
Virginia Pen Register and Trap and Trace Device Prohibition
In force.
A device storage and tracking consent rule binding public and private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- Yes
- Private right of action
- No
- Criminal exposure note
- Any person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
- Enforcement body
- Criminal prosecution by the Commonwealth; the section states no civil action of its own.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not install or use a pen register or a trap and trace device (a device or process that records dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information of a wire or electronic communication, excluding its contents) without first obtaining a court order under section 19.2-70.2; a device a provider or customer uses for billing, or for cost accounting in the ordinary course of business, is not a pen register.
- A provider of electronic or wire communication service may use such a device without a court order to operate, maintain, test or protect its service, its rights or property or its users, to record that a communication was initiated or completed to protect against fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use, or with the consent of the service's user; these exceptions belong to the provider, not to any other person who might use such a device.
What this law does
No person may install or use a pen register or a trap and trace device without first obtaining a court order under section 19.2-70.2.
A pen register is a device or process that records or decodes dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information transmitted by an instrument from which a wire or electronic communication is transmitted, and a trap and trace device is one that captures the incoming impulses identifying the originating number or other dialing, routing, addressing or signaling information; neither term reaches the contents of a communication.
A pen register does not include a device or process a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service uses for billing, or recording incident to billing, for the provider's communications services, or one a provider or customer of a wire communication service uses for cost accounting or similar purposes in the ordinary course of its business.
A court order is not required for a provider of electronic or wire communication service to use such a device in operating, maintaining and testing its service or protecting its rights or property or its users from abuse or unlawful use of the service, to record that a communication was initiated or completed to protect itself, another provider or a user from fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use of the service, or where the consent of the user of that service has been obtained.
All three exceptions, the user-consent one included, are exceptions for a provider; the section has none for anyone else. A knowing violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and the section states no civil action of its own.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app tracks devices.