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Can you summarize KSST 21-6101?
CRIMES INVOLVING VIOLATIONS OF PERSONAL RIGHTS > Breach of privacy.
Short Summary
The provided legal document governs the offense of breach of privacy. It applies to any person who knowingly and without lawful authority engages in activities such as intercepting private communication, divulging intercepted messages, surreptitiously listening to private conversations, installing or using devices for recording or amplifying sounds in private places, intercepting wire or wireless communication, secretly recording another person’s body or undergarments, disseminating unlawfully obtained images, or disseminating images of a person engaged in sexual activity without their consent. There are certain exemptions to the provisions, such as messages overheard through a regularly installed instrument on a telephone party line or on an extension, activities conducted by operators of switchboards or public utility employees in the normal course of employment, providers of interactive computer services, radio common carriers, and local exchange or telecommunications carriers. Additionally, the provisions related to disseminating images without consent do not apply to persons acting with a bona fide and lawful scientific, educational, governmental, news, or other similar public purpose. The penalties for breach of privacy vary depending on the specific subsection violated, ranging from a class A nonperson misdemeanor to severity level 5 person felonies.
Whom does it apply to?
Any person who knowingly and without lawful authority engages in activities such as intercepting private communication, divulging the existence or contents of intercepted messages, surreptitiously listening to private conversations, installing or using devices for recording or amplifying sounds in private places, intercepting wire or wireless communication, secretly recording another person's body or undergarments, disseminating unlawfully obtained images, or disseminating images of a person engaged in sexual activity without their consent.
What does it govern?
Breach of privacy
What are exemptions?
The provisions of subsection (a)(1) shall not apply to messages overheard through a regularly installed instrument on a telephone party line or on an extension. The provisions of this section shall not apply to: (1) an operator of a switchboard or any officer, employee, or agent of any public utility providing telephone communications service, whose facilities are used in the transmission of a communication, to intercept, disclose, or use that communication in the normal course of employment while engaged in any activity which is incident to the rendition of public utility service or to the protection of the rights of property of such public utility; (2) a provider of an interactive computer service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. 230, for content provided by another person; (3) a radio common carrier, as defined in K.S.A. 66-1,143, and amendments thereto; and (4) a local exchange carrier or telecommunications carrier as defined in K.S.A. 66-1,187, and amendments thereto. The provisions of subsection (a)(8) shall not apply to a person acting with a bona fide and lawful scientific, educational, governmental, news, or other similar public purpose.
What are the Penalties?
Breach of privacy is classified as follows: (1) Subsection (a)(1) through (a)(5) is a class A nonperson misdemeanor; (2) subsection (a)(6) or (a)(8) is a severity level 8, person felony, except as provided in subsection (b)(2)(B); and (B) severity level 5, person felony upon a second or subsequent conviction within the previous five years; and (3) subsection (a)(7) is a severity level 5, person felony.
Jurisdiction
Kansas