January 28, 2003, Introduced by Rep. Caul and referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice.
A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled
"The Michigan penal code,"
by amending sections 539a, 539b, 539c, 539d, 539e, 539f, 539g,
539h, and 539i (MCL 750.539a, 750.539b, 750.539c, 750.539d,
750.539e, 750.539f, 750.539g, 750.539h, and 750.539i), section
539g as amended by 1993 PA 227, and by adding section 539j.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 539a. As used
in sections 539a to 539i 539j:
2 (1) "Private
place" means a place where one may reasonably
3 expect to be safe from
casual or hostile intrusion or
4 surveillance but does
not include a place to which the public or
5 substantial group of
the public has access.
6 (1) (2) "Eavesdrop"
or "eavesdropping" means to overhear,
7 record, amplify or transmit any part of the private discourse of
8 others without the permission of all persons engaged in the
1 discourse. Neither this definition or any other provision of
2 this act shall modify or affect any law or regulation concerning
3 interception, divulgence or recording of messages transmitted by
4 communications common carriers.
5 (2) "Peep" and "peeping" mean any looking of a clandestine,
6 surreptitious, prying, or secretive nature, regardless of whether
7 the person peeping commits a trespass or is on private or public
8 property.
9 (3) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation,
10 or association.
11 (4) "Private place" means a place where a reasonable person
12 would expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or
13 surveillance. Private place does not include a place to which
14 the public or a substantial group of the public has access.
15 (5) (3)
"Surveillance" means "Surveil" and
"surveillance"
16 mean to secretly observe the activities of another person for the
17 purpose of spying upon and invading the privacy of the person
18 observed.
19 (4)
"Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,
20 or association.
21 Sec. 539b. A person who trespasses on property owned or
22 under the control of any other person, to subject that person to
23 eavesdropping or
surveillance is guilty of a misdemeanor felony
24 punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of
25 not more than $2,000.00, or both.
26 Sec. 539c. (1) Any person who is present or who is not
27 present during a private
conversation and who wilfully
1 willfully uses any device to eavesdrop upon the conversation
2 without the consent of
all parties thereto to that
3 conversation, or who knowingly aids, employs, or procures another
4 person to do the same in violation of this section, is guilty of
5 a felony punishable by
imprisonment in a state prison for not
6 more than 2 5
years or by a fine of not more than $2,000.00
7 $5,000.00, or both.
8 (2) A person who willfully uses any device to surveil and
9 record or capture the image of another person in any private
10 place is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not
11 more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both.
12 Sec. 539d. Any A
person who installs, places, or uses in
13 any private place, without the consent of the person or persons
14 entitled to privacy there
in that place, any device for
15 observing, photographing, or eavesdropping upon the sounds or
16 events in such that
place, or uses any such unauthorized
17 installation, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment
18 in a state prison for not
more than 2 5 years or by a fine of
19 not more than $2,000.00
$5,000.00, or both.
20 Sec. 539e. Any A
person who uses or divulges any
21 information which or
any recorded or captured sound or image
22 that he or she knows or reasonably should know was obtained in
23 violation of sections
section 539b, 539c, or 539d is guilty of
24 a felony , punishable
by imprisonment in a state prison for
25 not more than 2 5
years , or by a fine of not more than
26 $2,000.00 $5,000.00.
27 Sec. 539f. Any A
person who manufactures, possesses, or
1 transfers to another person
any device , contrivance, machine or
2 apparatus designed or commonly used for eavesdropping or
3 surveillance with the
intent to unlawfully use or employ or
4 allow the same that
device to be so used or employed for
5 eavesdropping or
surveillance, and knowing the same device is
6 intended to be so used
for eavesdropping or surveillance, is
7 guilty of a felony , punishable
by imprisonment in a state
8 prison for not more than 2 5 years ,
or by a fine of not
9 more than $2,000.00 $5,000.00,
or both.
10 Sec. 539g. Sections 539a to 539f do not prohibit any of the
11 following:
12 (a) Eavesdropping or surveillance not otherwise prohibited by
13 law by a peace officer of this state or of the federal
14 government, or the officer's agent, while in the performance of
15 the officer's duties.
16 (b) Eavesdropping or surveillance not otherwise prohibited by
17 law by a representative of the media while in the performance of
18 his or her duties as a representative of the media.
19 (c) (b) Hearing a
communication transmitted by common
20 carrier facilities by
an An employee of a
communications common
21 carrier hearing a communication transmitted by common carrier
22 facilities when acting in the course of his or her employment
23 with that common carrier.
24 (d) (c)
The recording by a A public utility of recording
25 telephone communications
to it that utility requesting service
26 or registering a complaint by a customer, if a record of the
27 communications is required for legitimate business purposes and
1 the agents, servants, and employees of the public utility are
2 aware of the practice or surveillance by an employee safeguarding
3 property owned by, or in custody of, his or her employer on his
4 or her employer's property.
5 (e) (d) The
routine monitoring, including recording, by
6 employees of the department of corrections of telephone
7 communications on telephones available for use by prisoners in
8 state correctional facilities, if the monitoring is conducted in
9 the manner prescribed by
section 70 of Act No. 232 of the Public
10 Acts of 1953, being
section 791.270 of the Michigan Compiled
11 Laws 1953 PA 232, MCL 791.270, and rules
promulgated under that
12 section.
13 Sec. 539h. Any
parties Each party to any a conversation
14 upon which eavesdropping
is practiced contrary to in violation
15 of this act shall be is
entitled to the following civil
16 remedies:
17 (a) An injunction by a court of record prohibiting further
18 eavesdropping.
19 (b) All actual damages against the person who eavesdrops.
20 (c) Punitive damages as determined by the court or by a
21 jury.
22 Sec. 539i. In any criminal or civil action, proof of the
23 installation, placement, or use in any private place of any
24 device which that
may be used for the purposes of violating
25 the provisions of this act shall be is prima facie
evidence
26 of a violation of section 539d.
27 Sec. 539j. (1) A person shall not do either of the
1 following:
2 (a) Peep into a private place.
3 (b) Trespass on property owned or occupied by another person
4 to subject any person to peeping.
5 (2) A person who violates this section is guilty of a
6 misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year
7 or a fine of not more than $100.00, or both.