TITLE LXII
CRIMINAL CODE

CHAPTER 638
FRAUD

Wireless Telephone Cloning

Section 638:21

    638:21 Definitions. –
In this subdivision:
I. "Access device" means property consisting of any telephone calling card number, credit card number, account number, mobile identification number electronic serial number, personal identification number, or any other data intended to control or limit access to telecommunications or other computer networks in either human readable or computer readable form, either copy or original, that can be used to obtain telephone service.
II. "Clone" means to program or reprogram a wireless telephone or access device with an electronic serial number, mobile identification number, or personal identification number which has been obtained from a registered wireless telephone without the consent of the telecommunication service provider.
III. "Defaced access device" means any cloned wireless telephone or access device in either human readable or computer readable form, either copy or original, which has been removed, erased defaced, altered, destroyed, covered, or otherwise changed in any manner from its original configuration. In any prosecution regarding a defaced access device, any removal, erasure, defacement, alteration, destruction, covering, or other change in such access device from its original configuration performed by any person other than an authorized manufacturer of, or service provider to, access devices shall be presumed to be for an unlawful purpose.
IV. "Manufacture" means to produce or assemble, modify, alter, program, or re-program any wireless telephone or reader without the consent of the telecommunication service provider.
V. "Reader" means a device which is capable of, or has been manufactured, assembled, altered, modified, programmed, or re-programmed so as to be capable of acquiring or facilitating the acquisition of an electronic serial number, mobile identification number, personal identification number, or any code, or encoded or encrypted transmission, used in originating, facilitating, or transmitting telecommunication service without the consent of the telecommunication service provider.
VI. "Registered wireless telephone" means a wireless telephone registered with a telecommunication service provider for a fee as set by the telecommunication service provider.
VII. "Telecommunication service" means a service provided for a charge or compensation to facilitate the origination, transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, writings, images and sounds, or intelligence of any nature by telephone, including wireless telephone.
VIII. "Telecommunication service provider" means a person or entity providing telecommunication service including, but not limited to, a wireless telephone company which, for a fee, supplies the facility, cell site, wireless telephone switching office, registered wireless telephone, or other equipment.
IX. "Telephone cloning paraphernalia" means materials, including at least one of the items in subparagraph (a), (f), (g), or (h), that, when possessed in combination, are capable of creating a cloned cellular telephone. Telephone cloning paraphernalia includes, but is not limited to:
(a) Readers;
(b) Cellular telephones;
(c) Cables;
(d) EPROM chips;
(e) EPROM burners;
(f) Software for programming the cellular telephone with a false electronic serial number, mobile identification number, other identifiable data, or a combination of those items;
(g) Computers containing software described in subparagraph (f); and
(h) Lists of electronic serial number and mobile identification number combinations.
X. "Traffic" means to sell, buy, receive, possess, distribute, exchange, give, transfer, or dispose of an access device, defaced access device, reader, or cloned wireless telephone, or plans or instructions for making or assembling the same, to another, or to offer or agree to do the same.
XI. "Wireless telephone" means any equipment or instrument that transmits:
(a) Cellular telephone service;
(b) Personal communication service; or
(c) Any other commercial mobile radio service as defined in 47 C.F.R. 20.3.

Source. 1997, 298:30. 1998, 16:1, eff. April 15, 1998.