R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-27.1-2

Current through 2024 Public Law 457

Section 33-27.1-2 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter:

(1) "Account" means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user.

(2) "Agent" means an attorney-in-fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable power of attorney.

(3) "Carries" means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication.

(4) "Catalogue of electronic communications" means information that identifies each person with which a user has had an electronic communication; the time and date of the communication; and the electronic address of the person.

(5) "Conservator" means a person appointed by a court to administer the property of a living individual pursuant to chapter 15 of title 33. The term includes a limited conservator.

(6) "Content of an electronic communication" means information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication that:

(i) Has been sent or received by a user;

(ii) Is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote computing service to the public; and

(iii) Is not readily accessible to the public.

(7) "Court" means a court of competent jurisdiction, including the probate court and the superior court.

(8) "Custodian" means a person who or that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user.

(9) "Designated recipient" means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user.

(10) "Digital asset" means an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record.

(11) "Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

(12) "Electronic communication" has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq., as amended.

(13) "Electronic communication service" means a custodian who or that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication.

(14) "Fiduciary" means an original, additional, or successor personal representative, guardian, conservator, agent, or trustee.

(15) "Guardian" means a person appointed by the court to make decisions regarding the estate of a living individual, including a person appointed pursuant to chapter 15 of title 33. The term includes a limited guardian.

(16) "Information" means data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like.

(17) "Online tool" means an electronic service provided by a custodian that allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person.

(18) "Person" means an individual, estate, partnership, association, trust, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity.

(19) "Personal representative" means an executor, administrator, special administrator, or person who or that performs substantially the same function under law of this state other than this chapter.

(20) "Power of attorney" means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal.

(21) "Principal" means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.

(22) "Protected person" means an individual for whom a guardian or conservator has been appointed pursuant to chapter 15 title 33.

(23) "Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(24) "Remote computing service" means a custodian that provides to a user computer-processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic communications system, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq., as amended.

(25) "Terms-of-service agreement" means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian.

(26) "Trustee" means a fiduciary with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another. The term includes a successor trustee.

(27) "User" means a person that has an account with a custodian.

(28) "Will" includes a codicil, a testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and an instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-27.1-2

Added by 2019 Pub. Laws, ch. 262,§ 2, eff. 7/15/2019.

Added by 2019 Pub. Laws, ch. 200,§ 2, eff. 7/15/2019.