2025 Georgia Codes – Page 108

(a) As used in this Code section, the term “firearm” shall have the same meaning as set forth in division (a)(6)
(A)(iii) of Code Section 16-8-12.
(b) A person commits the offense of criminal use of an article with an altered identification mark when he or
she buys, sells, receives, disposes of, conceals, or has in his or her possession a radio, piano, phonograph,
sewing machine, washing machine, typewriter, adding machine, comptometer, bicycle, firearm, safe, vacu-
um cleaner, dictaphone, watch, watch movement, watch case, or any other mechanical or electrical device,
appliance, contrivance, material, vessel as defined in Code Section 52-7-3, or other piece of apparatus or
equipment, other than a motor vehicle as defined in Code Section 40-1-1, from which he or she knows the
manufacturer’s name plate, serial number, or any other distinguishing number or identification mark has
been removed for the purpose of concealing or destroying the identity of such article.
(c)(1) A person convicted of the offense of criminal use of an article, other than a firearm, with an altered
identification mark shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for
not less than one year nor more than five years.
(2) A person convicted of the offense of criminal use of a firearm with an altered identification mark shall
be guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year nor
more than ten years; provided, however, that upon a second or subsequent conviction, by imprisonment for
not less than five nor more than ten years.
(d) This Code section shall not apply to those cases or instances when any of the changes or alterations
enumerated in subsection (b) of this Code section have been customarily made or done as an established
practice in the ordinary and regular conduct of business by the original manufacturer or by its duly appointed
direct representative or under specific authorization from the original manufacturer.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person without the express permission of the owner or lessee of an animal to
remove a collar, tag, tattoo, or any identification mark artificially attached to or imprinted on an animal for
the purposes of identification which causes or is likely to cause the loss of the animal to the owner thereof.
(b) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

As used in this article, the term:
(1) “Computer” means an electronic, magnetic, optical, hydraulic, electrochemical, or organic device or
group of devices which, pursuant to a computer program, to human instruction, or to permanent instruc-
tions contained in the device or group of devices, can automatically perform computer operations with or on
computer data and can communicate the results to another computer or to a person. The term includes any
connected or directly related device, equipment, or facility which enables the computer to store, retrieve, or
communicate computer programs, computer data, or the results of computer operations to or from a person,
another computer, or another device. This term specifically includes, but is not limited to, mail servers and
e-mail networks. This term does not include a device that is not used to communicate with or to manipulate
any other computer.
(2) “Computer network” means a set of related, remotely connected computers and any communications
facilities with the function and purpose of transmitting data among them through the communications facili-
ties.
(3) “Computer operation” means computing, classifying, transmitting, receiving, retrieving, originating,
switching, storing, displaying, manifesting, measuring, detecting, recording, reproducing, handling, or utiliz-
ing any form of data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes.
(4) “Computer program” means one or more statements or instructions composed and structured in a form
acceptable to a computer that, when executed by a computer in actual or modified form, cause the computer
to perform one or more computer operations. The term “computer program” shall include all associated pro-
cedures and documentation, whether or not such procedures and documentation are in human readable form.
(5) “Data” includes any representation of information, intelligence, or data in any fixed medium, including
documentation, computer printouts, magnetic storage media, punched cards, storage in a computer, or trans-
mission by a computer network.
(6) “Electronic communication” means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intel-
ligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or
photo-optical system that affects interstate or foreign commerce, but does not include:
(A) Any wire or oral communication;
(B) Any communication made through a tone-only paging device;
(C) Any communication from a tracking device; or
(D) Electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial institution in a communications system used
for the electronic storage and transfer of funds.
(7) “Electronic communication service” means any service which provides to its users the ability to send or
receive wire or electronic communications.
(8) “Electronic communications system” means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, photo-
optical, or facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or
related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications.
(9) “Electronic means” is any device or apparatus which can be used to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic
communication other than:
(A) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component thereof,
(i) Furnished to the subscriber or user by a provider of electronic communication service in the ordinary
course of its business and used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business or furnished
by such subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such service and used in the ordinary course of
its business; or
(ii) Used by a provider of electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business or by an
investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his or her duties; or
(B) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to better than normal.
(10) “Electronic storage” means:
(A) Any temporary, intermediate storage of wire or electronic communication incidental to its electronic
transmission; and
(B) Any storage of such communication by an electronic communication service for purposes of backup
protection of such communication.
(11) “Financial instruments” includes any check, draft, money order, note, certificate of deposit, letter of
credit, bill of exchange, credit or debit card, transaction-authorizing mechanism, or marketable security, or
any computer representation thereof.
(12) “Law enforcement unit” means any law enforcement officer charged with the duty of enforcing the
criminal laws and ordinances of the state or of the counties or municipalities of the state who is employed by
and compensated by the state or any county or municipality of the state or who is elected and compensated
on a fee basis. The term shall include, but not be limited to, members of the Department of Public Safety,
municipal police, county police, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, and agents and investigators of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation.
(13) “Property” includes computers, computer networks, computer programs, data, financial instruments, and
services.
(14) “Remote computing service” means the provision to the public of computer storage or processing ser-
vices by means of an electronic communications system.
(15) “Services” includes computer time or services or data processing services.
(16) “Use” includes causing or attempting to cause:
(A) A computer or computer network to perform or to stop performing computer operations;
(B) The obstruction, interruption, malfunction, or denial of the use of a computer, computer network, com-
puter program, or data; or
(C) A person to put false information into a computer.
(17) “Victim expenditure” means any expenditure reasonably and necessarily incurred by the owner to verify
that a computer, computer network, computer program, or data was or was not altered, deleted, damaged, or
destroyed by unauthorized use.
(18) “Without authority” includes the use of a computer or computer network in a manner that exceeds any
right or permission granted by the owner of the computer or computer network.