Public Act 097-0303
 
HB2935 EnrolledLRB097 06237 RLC 51035 b


  
    AN ACT concerning criminal law.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  


 
    Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended  by changing 
Section 12-7.5 as follows:
 
 

    (720 ILCS 5/12-7.5)

 
    Sec. 12-7.5. Cyberstalking. 

    (a) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she engages 
in a course of conduct using electronic communication directed 
at a specific person, and he or she knows or should know that 
would cause a reasonable person to:
        (1) fear for his or her safety or the safety of a third 
    person; or
        (2) suffer other emotional distress.
    (a-3) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, 
knowingly and without
lawful justification, on at least 2 
separate occasions, harasses another person
through the use of 
electronic communication and:


        (1) at any time transmits a threat of immediate or 
    future bodily harm,
sexual assault, confinement, or 
    restraint and the threat is directed towards
that person or 
    a family member of that person; or


        (2) places that person or a family member of that 
    person in reasonable
apprehension of immediate or future 
    bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement,
or restraint; or

        (3) at any time knowingly solicits the commission of an 
    act by any person which would be a violation of this Code 
    directed towards that person or a family member of that 
    person.
    (a-5) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, 
knowingly and without lawful justification, creates and 
maintains an Internet website or webpage which is accessible to 
one or more third parties for a period of at least 24 hours, 
and which contains statements harassing another person and:
        (1) which communicates a threat of immediate or future 
    bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, 
    where the threat is directed towards that person or a 
    family member of that person, or
        (2) which places that person or a family member of that 
    person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future 
    bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, or
        (3) which knowingly solicits the commission of an act 
    by any person which would be a violation of this Code 
    directed towards that person or a family member of that 
    person. 



    (b) Sentence.  Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony.  A second 
or subsequent
conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony.

    (c) For purposes of this Section:
        (1) "Course of conduct" means 2 or more acts, including 
    but not limited to acts in which a defendant directly, 
    indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, 
    method, device, or means follows, monitors, observes, 
    surveils, threatens, or communicates to or about, a person, 
    engages in other non-consensual contact, or interferes 
    with or damages a person's property or pet.  The 
    incarceration in a penal institution of a person who 
    commits the course of conduct is not a bar to prosecution 
    under this Section.
        (2) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of 
    signs, signals, writings, sounds, data, or intelligence of 
    any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, 
    radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical 
    system.  "Electronic communication" includes transmissions 
    through an electronic device including, but not limited to, 
    a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager, which 
    communication includes, but is not limited to, e-mail, 
    instant message, text message, or voice mail by a computer 
    through the Internet to another computer. 
        (3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental 
    suffering, anxiety or alarm.
        (4) "Harass"
means to engage in a knowing and willful 
    course of conduct directed at a
specific person
that 
    alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person. 
        (5) "Non-consensual contact" means any contact with 
    the victim that is initiated or continued without the 
    victim's consent, including but not limited to being in the 
    physical presence of the victim; appearing within the sight 
    of the victim; approaching or confronting the victim in a 
    public place or on private property; appearing at the 
    workplace or residence of the victim; entering onto or 
    remaining on property owned, leased, or occupied by the 
    victim; or  placing an object on, or delivering an object 
    to, property owned, leased, or occupied by the victim.
        (6) "Reasonable person" means a person in the victim's 
    circumstances, with the victim's knowledge of the 
    defendant and the defendant's prior acts.
        (7) "Third party" means any person other than the 
    person violating these provisions and the person or persons 
    towards whom the violator's actions are directed. 
    (d) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service 
providers, and providers of information services, including, 
but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting 
service providers, are not liable under this Section, except 
for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the 
transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications 
or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other 
related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or 
information services used by others in violation of this 
Section. 
(Source: P.A. 95-849, eff. 1-1-09; 96-328, eff. 8-11-09; 
96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)

  
 
    Section 10. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is 
amended  by changing Section 1-2 as follows:
 
    (720 ILCS 135/1-2)
    Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications. 
    (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the 
use of electronic
communication for any of the following 
purposes:
        (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or 
    proposal which is obscene
 with an intent to offend;
        (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the 
    telephone service or the
electronic communication service 
    of any person;
        (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to 
    harass and regardless
of whether the communication is read 
    in its entirety or at all, any file,
document, or other 
    communication which prevents that person from using his or

    her telephone service or electronic communications device;
        (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or 
    knowingly inducing a
person to transmit an electronic 
    communication for the purpose of harassing
another person 
    who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the 
    person
under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if 
    the defendant is at least
16 years of age at the time of 
    the commission of the offense;
        (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property 
    of the person to
whom an electronic communication is 
    directed or to any of his or her family or
household 
    members; or
        (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications 
    device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this 
    subsection (a).
    (b) As used in this Act:
        (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of 
    signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or 
    intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part 
    by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or

    photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes 
    transmissions through an electronic device including, but 
    not limited to, a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or 
    pager, which communication includes, but is not limited to, 
    e-mail, instant message, text message, or voice mail by a 
    computer through the Internet to another computer. 
        (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, 
    former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other 
    persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, 
    persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, 
    persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship 
    through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or 
    engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and 
    their personal assistants.  For purposes of this Act, 
    neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary 
    fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social 
    contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating

    relationship.
    (c) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service 
providers, and providers of information services, including, 
but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting 
service providers, are not liable under this Section, except 
for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the 
transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications 
or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other 
related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or 
information services used by others in violation of this 
Section. 
(Source: P.A. 95-849, eff. 1-1-09; 95-984, eff. 6-1-09; 96-328, 
eff. 8-11-09.)

 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 
becoming law.