K.S.A. § 21-4001 (2006)
21-4001. Eavesdropping.

(a) Eavesdropping is knowingly and without lawful authority:

(1) Entering into a private place with intent to listen surreptitiously to private conversations or to observe the personal conduct of any other person or persons therein;

(2) installing or using outside a private place any device for hearing, recording, amplifying or broadcasting sounds originating in such place, which sounds would not ordinarily be audible or comprehensible outside, without the consent of the person or persons entitled to privacy therein;

(3) installing or using any device or equipment for the interception of any telephone, telegraph or other wire communication without the consent of the person in possession or control of the facilities for such wire communication; or

(4) installing or using a concealed camcorder, motion picture camera or photographic camera of any type, to secretly videotape, film, photograph or record by electronic means, another, identifiable person under or through the clothing being worn by that other person or another, identifiable person who is nude or in a state of undress, for the purpose of viewing the body of, or the undergarments worn by, that other person, without the consent or knowledge of that other person, with the intent to invade the privacy of that other person, under circumstances in which the other person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

(b) A "private place" within the meaning of this section is a place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from uninvited intrusion or surveillance, but does not include a place to which the public has lawful access.

(c) It shall not be unlawful for 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.

(d) Eavesdropping is a class A nonperson misdemeanor.

NOTES:

[provided by the Kansas Revisor of Statutes]


CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED SECTIONS:

Order authorizing eavesdropping, see 22-2514 to 22-2519.



LAW REVIEW AND BAR JOURNAL REFERENCES:

"Notes on the Code of Criminal Procedure," Richard H. Seaton and Paul E. Wilson, 39 J.B.A.K. 97, 161 (1970).

Discussed in electronic surveillance section of symposium on criminal law revision, P. Lawrence Peterson, 18 K.L.R. 780, 803, 804 (1970).

"Survey of Kansas Law: Criminal Law," Robert A. Wason, 32 K.L.R. 395, 422, 423 (1984).

"Criminal Law: Informant Bugging--When is a Private Conversation Really Private?" Danton B. Rice, 24 W.L.J. 376 (1985).



"Encoded Confidences: Electronic Mail, the Internet, and the Attorney-Client Privilege," William P. Matthews, 45 K.L.R. 273 (1996).

"To record or not to record," 66 J.K.B.A. No. 9, 4 (1997).

"Evidence for the family lawyer: Intrafamily wiretapping, the Fifth Amendment and other selected topics," Steve Leben, 68 J.K.B.A. No. 3, 24 (1999).

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINIONS

Breach of privacy; recording of incoming telephone calls by sheriff's office. 93-93.



CASE ANNOTATIONS

1. Consent obtained from person controlling telephone upon which recording device installed; privacy protected hereunder not violated; admissible evidence. State v. Wigley, 210 K. 472, 474, 476, 502 P.2d 819.

2. Statute construed in conjunction with K.S.A. 22-2513; no violation hereunder where telephone company monitors its property to protect its interests therein. State v. Hruska, 219 K. 233, 236, 237, 238, 240, 241, 547 P.2d 732.

3. Subsection (1)(c) refers to owner's consent, not user's consent. State v. Bowman National Security Agency, Inc., 231 K. 631, 633, 634, 635, 647 P.2d 1288 (1982).

4. Photographing person in private place with hidden camera is eavesdropping; prohibited hereby. State v. Martin, 232 K. 778, 780, 781, 782, 658 P.2d 1024 (1983).

5. Any party to private conversation may waive right of privacy and consent to electronic interception and recording; nonconsenting party cannot challenge; conviction under 65-4127b. State v. Roudybush, 235 K. 834, 844, 686 P.2d 100 (1984).

6. Stepfather convicted of eavesdropping by videotaping 16 year old stepdaughter bathing by use of hole in bathroom wall. State v. Liebau, 31 K.A.2d 501, 67 P.3d 156 (2003).