# Title 12.1 — Criminal Code

## Chapter 12.1-15 — Defamation - Interception of Communications

### § 12.1-15-01. Criminal defamation.

1. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if he willfully publishes defamatory matter
or knowingly procures such publication or in any way knowingly aids or assists in the
same being done.
2. It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that:
a. The matter alleged to be defamatory is true; or
b. The matter alleged to be defamatory was contained in a privileged
communication.
3. In this section:
a. "Defamatory matter" means any written or oral communication concerning a
natural person made public with actual malice or with reckless disregard of the
truth by any utterance, printing, writing, sign, picture, representation, or effigy
tending to expose such person to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to deprive
him of the benefits of public confidence and social intercourse or any written or
oral communication concerning a natural person made public as aforesaid
designed to blacken and vilify the memory of one who is dead and tending to
scandalize or provoke his surviving relatives and friends.
b. "Privileged communication" means a communication made to a person entitled to
or interested in the communication by one who is also entitled to or interested or
who stood in such relation to the former as to afford a reasonable ground for
supposing his motive innocent.
c. "Publication" means a knowing display of defamatory matter, or the parting with
its immediate custody under circumstances which exposed the defamatory matter
to be read or seen or understood by a person other than the publisher of the
defamatory matter, although it is not necessary that the matter complained of
should have been seen or read by another.
### § 12.1-15-02. Interception of wire or oral communications - Eavesdropping.

1. A person is guilty of a class C felony if he:
a. Intentionally intercepts any wire or oral communication by use of any electronic,
mechanical, or other device; or
b. Intentionally discloses to any other person or intentionally uses the contents of
any wire or oral communication, knowing that the information was obtained
through the interception of a wire or oral communication.
2. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if he secretly loiters about any building
with intent to overhear discourse or conversation therein and to repeat or publish the
same with intent to vex, annoy, or injure others.
3. It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection 1 that:
a. The actor was authorized by law to intercept, disclose, or use, as the case may
be, the wire or oral communication.
b. The actor was:
(1) A person acting under color of law to intercept a wire or oral communication,
and
(2) He was a party to the communication or one of the parties to the
communication had given prior consent to such interception.
c. (1) The actor was a party to the communication or one of the parties to the
communication had given prior consent to such interception, and
(2) Such communication was not intercepted for the purpose of committing a
crime or other unlawful harm.

### § 12.1-15-03. Traffic in intercepting devices.

1. A person is guilty of a class C felony if, within this state, he manufactures, assembles,
possesses, transports, or sells an electronic, mechanical, or other device, knowing that
the design of such device renders it primarily useful to the purpose of the surreptitious
interception of wire or oral communications.
2. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if he places, in a newspaper, magazine,
handbill, or other publication published in this state, an advertisement of an electronic,
mechanical, or other device, knowing that the design of such device renders it
primarily useful for surreptitious interception of wire or oral communications, or
knowing that such advertisement promotes the use of such device for surreptitious
interception of wire or oral communications.
3. It is a defense to a prosecution under this section that the actor was:
a. An officer, agent, or employee of, or a person under contract with, a
communications common carrier, acting within the normal course of the business
of the communications common carrier; or
b. A public servant acting in the course of his official duties or a person acting within
the scope of a government contract made by a person acting in the course of his
official duties.
### § 12.1-15-04. Definitions.

In sections 12.1-15-02 through 12.1-15-04:
1. "Communications common carrier" shall have the meaning prescribed for the term
"common carrier" by section 8-07-01.
2. "Contents", when used with respect to any wire or oral communication, includes any
information concerning the identity of the parties to such communication or the
existence, substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.
3. "Electronic, mechanical, or other device" means any device or apparatus which can be
used to intercept a wire or oral communication other than:
a. Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component
thereof, (1) furnished to the subscriber or user by a communications common
carrier in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or
user in the ordinary course of its business; or (2) being used by a
communications common carrier in the ordinary course of its business, or by an
investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties.
b. A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not
better than normal.
4. "Intercept" means the aural acquisition of the contents of any wire or oral
communication through the use of an electronic, mechanical, or other device, or by
secretly overhearing the communication.
5. "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting
an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under
circumstances justifying such expectation.
6. "Wire communication" means any communication made in whole or in part through the
use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or
other like connection between the point of origin and the point of reception furnished or
operated by any person engaged as a common carrier in providing or operating such
facilities for the transmission of communications.
### § 12.1-15-05. Interception of correspondence.

1. A person is guilty of a class A misdemeanor if, knowing that a letter, postal card, or
other written private correspondence has not yet been delivered to the person to
whom it is directed, and knowing that he does not have the consent of the sender or
receiver of the correspondence, he:
a. Damages or destroys the correspondence with intent to prevent its delivery;
b. Opens or reads sealed correspondence with intent to discover its contents; or

c. Knowing that sealed correspondence has been opened or read in violation of
subdivision b, intentionally divulges its contents, in whole or in part, or a summary
of any portion thereof.
### § 12.1-15-06. Implanting microchips prohibited.

A person may not require that an individual have inserted into that individual's body a
microchip containing a radio frequency identification device. A violation of this section is a
class A misdemeanor.
