Section 16-11-65. License to intercept telephonic communications for business service improvement; regulatory powers of Georgia Public Service Commission

   (a) Nothing contained within Code Section 16-11-62 shall prohibit the employment and use of any equipment or device which is owned by any person or is furnished by any telephone company authorized to do business in this state under proper tariffs filed with and approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission which may be attached to any telephonic equipment of any user of or subscriber to such equipment which permits the interception of telephonic communications solely for the purposes of business service improvement when the user of or subscriber to such facilities and equipment has duly applied for and obtained from the Georgia Public Service Commission a license for the employment and installation of the equipment. No license shall be issued until the applicant has demonstrated to the commission a clear, apparent, and logically reasonable need for the use of the equipment in connection with a legitimate business activity of the user or subscriber and demonstrated to the satisfaction of the commission that it will be operated by persons of good moral character and that the equipment will be used in a lawful manner and in conformity with the tariffs filed for the equipment. The commission is authorized to establish the necessary procedures to be employed and followed in applying for such permits and to require from the user or subscriber of such equipment the furnishing of any reasonable information required by the commission in regard to the intended and actual use of the equipment.

(b) The Georgia Public Service Commission is authorized to revoke any license and to order any owner of such equipment or any telephone company supplying such equipment to remove from the premises of the licensee the equipment when it is established to the satisfaction of the commission that the equipment is being used in an unlawful manner contrary to the tariff applicable to the equipment or in a manner contrary to the purposes and uses for which the license had been issued. Such licenses may also be revoked by the commission if it is subsequently discovered that a material misrepresentation of fact has been made in applying for the license. The commission is authorized to promulgate such rules and regulations in connection with the licensing and revocation thereof of such users of such equipment as will enable it to carry out the purposes, duties, and responsibilities imposed upon the commission by this Code section. Such rules and regulations shall afford to any aggrieved licensee an opportunity to a full and impartial hearing before the commission. The commission shall further have the authority to adopt any and all appropriate rules and regulations of any sort to ensure the privacy of telephonic and telegraphic communications. A violation of such rules and regulations shall be a violation of this part.

(c) All telephone companies shall have printed in a conspicuously accessible location within their directories a notice to the public that there is available without cost at the business office of the telephone company served by the directory a list of subscribers of such equipment which will be made available to any member of the general public requesting the same from such companies.

(d) The provisions of this part shall not apply to acts by duly authorized employees of any telephone company regulated by the Georgia Public Service Commission, with regard to the reasonable and limited intercepting of telephone communications under circumstances reasonably calculated to assure the privacy of telephone communications when such interception is accomplished solely for the purpose of maintaining the quality of service furnished to the public or for the purpose of preventing the unlawful use of telephone service. All such telephone companies shall adopt regulations and procedures consistent with the requirements of this Code section governing the use of equipment which permits the interception of telephone messages by their employees and file the same with the commission. After being filed with the commission, such regulations and procedures shall be public records.

Ga. L. 1967, p. 844, § 1; Code 1933, § 26-3005, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 16; Ga. L. 1991, p. 1040, § 1.