Pen. Code, § 632.5 · Chapter 1.5. Invasion of Privacy
Pen. Code, § 632.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Every person who, maliciously and without the consent of all parties to the communication, intercepts, receives, or assists in intercepting or receiving a communication transmitted between cellular radio telephones or between any cellular radio telephone and a landline telephone shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has been previously convicted of a violation of this section or Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636, the person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) In the following instances, this section shall not apply:
(1) To any public utility engaged in the business of providing communications services and facilities, or to the officers, employees, or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited are for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct, or operation of the services and facilities of the public utility.
(2) To the use of any instrument, equipment, facility, or service furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility.
(3) To any telephonic communication system used for communication exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city correctional facility.
(c) As used in this section and Section 635, “cellular radio telephone” means a wireless telephone authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidth reserved for cellular radio telephones.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1992, Ch. 298, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 1993.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=632.5.
- Text hash
- sha256 3ee5292d34d8f7e054e95024f3dcaf81aa46c0cd72dc8812ef0f587ce0c31f80
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 631Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632.6Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632.7Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 635Printed as Section 635
- Pen. Code, § 636Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
Cited by 12 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 632.5. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 629.88Printed as Section 631, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 631Printed as Section 632, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632Printed as Section 631, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632.6Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 632.7Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 633Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 633.02Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 633.05Printed as Section 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 633.1Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, or 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 633.5Printed as Sections 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, and 632.7
- Pen. Code, § 634Printed as Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6, 632.7, or 636
- Pen. Code, § 635Printed as Section 632.5
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.