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1 | AN ACT concerning civil law.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Civil | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | Liability for Doxing Act. | |||||||||||||||||||
6 | Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act: | |||||||||||||||||||
7 | "Course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct composed of | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | 2 or more acts, evidencing a continuity of purpose. | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | "Electronic communication" means any transfer of signs, | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system. | |||||||||||||||||||
13 | "Family or household member" includes spouses, former | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | spouses, parents, children, stepchildren, and other persons | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | related by blood or by present or prior marriage, persons who | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | share or formerly shared a common dwelling, persons who have | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | or allegedly have a child in common, persons who share or | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | allegedly share a blood relationship through a child, persons | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | who have or have had a dating or engagement relationship, | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | persons with disabilities and their personal assistants, and | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | caregivers as defined in Section 12-4.4a of the Criminal Code | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | of 2012. For purposes of this paragraph, neither a casual | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | acquaintanceship nor ordinary fraternization between 2 |
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1 | individuals in business or social contexts shall be deemed to | ||||||
2 | constitute a dating relationship. In the case of a high-risk | ||||||
3 | adult with disabilities, "family or household member" includes | ||||||
4 | any person who has the responsibility for a high-risk adult as | ||||||
5 | a result of a family relationship or who has assumed | ||||||
6 | responsibility for all or a portion of the care of a high-risk | ||||||
7 | adult with disabilities voluntarily, by express or implied | ||||||
8 | contract, or by court order. | ||||||
9 | "Mental anguish" means emotional distress or emotional | ||||||
10 | suffering as evidenced by anxiety, fear, torment, or | ||||||
11 | apprehension that may or may not result in a physical | ||||||
12 | manifestation of mental anguish or a mental health diagnosis. | ||||||
13 | "Mental anguish" is limited to emotional distress or emotional | ||||||
14 | suffering that is protracted and not merely trivial or | ||||||
15 | transitory. | ||||||
16 | "Personally identifiable information" means any | ||||||
17 | information that can be used to distinguish or trace a | ||||||
18 | person's identity, such as name, prior legal name, alias, | ||||||
19 | mother's maiden name, and date or place of birth in | ||||||
20 | combination with any other information that is linked or | ||||||
21 | linkable to a person such as: | ||||||
22 | (1) social security number, home address, phone | ||||||
23 | number, email address, social media accounts, or biometric | ||||||
24 | data; | ||||||
25 | (2) medical, financial, education, consumer, or | ||||||
26 | employment information, data, or records; |
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1 | (3) any other sensitive or private information that is | ||||||
2 | linked or linkable to a specific identifiable person, such | ||||||
3 | as gender identity, sexual orientation, or any sexually | ||||||
4 | intimate visual depiction; or | ||||||
5 | (4) any information that provides access to a person's | ||||||
6 | teleconferencing, video-teleconferencing, or other | ||||||
7 | digital meeting room. | ||||||
8 | "Post" means to circulate, deliver, distribute, | ||||||
9 | disseminate, transmit, or otherwise make available to 2 or | ||||||
10 | more persons through electronic communication. | ||||||
11 | "Publish" means to circulate, deliver, distribute, | ||||||
12 | disseminate, post, transmit, or otherwise make available to | ||||||
13 | another person. | ||||||
14 | "Regularly resides" means residing in the household with | ||||||
15 | some permanency or regular frequency in the person's living | ||||||
16 | arrangement. | ||||||
17 | "Stalk" or "stalking" means to knowingly or intentionally | ||||||
18 | engage in a course of conduct, without a legitimate purpose, | ||||||
19 | directed at or concerning a specific person that would cause a | ||||||
20 | reasonable person to fear for the person's safety or the | ||||||
21 | safety of a family or household member or to suffer | ||||||
22 | substantial emotional distress. | ||||||
23 | "Substantial life disruption" means that a person | ||||||
24 | significantly modifies that person's actions or routines in an | ||||||
25 | attempt to avoid the individual or because of the individual's | ||||||
26 | course of conduct. "Substantial life disruption" may include, |
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1 | but is not limited to, changing a phone number, changing an | ||||||
2 | email address, deleting personal electronic accounts or | ||||||
3 | significantly decreasing use of the Internet, moving from an | ||||||
4 | established residence, changing daily routines, changing | ||||||
5 | routes to and from work, changing employment or work schedule, | ||||||
6 | or losing time at work or a job. | ||||||
7 | Section 10. Doxing. | ||||||
8 | (a) An individual engages in the act of doxing when that | ||||||
9 | individual intentionally publishes another person's personally | ||||||
10 | identifiable information without the consent of the person | ||||||
11 | whose information is published and: | ||||||
12 | (1) the information is published with the intent that | ||||||
13 | it be used to harm or harass the person whose information | ||||||
14 | is published and with knowledge or reckless disregard that | ||||||
15 | the person whose information is published would be | ||||||
16 | reasonably likely to suffer death, bodily injury, or | ||||||
17 | stalking; and | ||||||
18 | (2) the publishing of the information: | ||||||
19 | (i) causes the person whose information is | ||||||
20 | published to suffer significant economic injury or | ||||||
21 | mental anguish or to fear serious bodily injury or | ||||||
22 | death of the person or a family or household member of | ||||||
23 | the person; or | ||||||
24 | (ii) causes the person whose information is | ||||||
25 | published to suffer a substantial life disruption. |
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1 | (b) It is not an offense under this Act for an individual | ||||||
2 | to: | ||||||
3 | (1) provide another person's personally identifiable | ||||||
4 | information or sensitive personal information in | ||||||
5 | connection with the reporting of criminal activity to an | ||||||
6 | employee of a law enforcement agency or in connection with | ||||||
7 | any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or | ||||||
8 | intelligence activity of any law enforcement agency or of | ||||||
9 | an intelligence agency of the United States and the person | ||||||
10 | making the report reasonably believes the alleged criminal | ||||||
11 | activity occurred or the existing investigative, | ||||||
12 | protective, or intelligence activity is legitimate; | ||||||
13 | (2) disseminate the personally identifiable | ||||||
14 | information for the purpose of, or in connection with, the | ||||||
15 | reporting of conduct reasonably believed to be unlawful; | ||||||
16 | or | ||||||
17 | (3) provide a person's personally identifiable | ||||||
18 | information in connection with lawful and constitutionally | ||||||
19 | protected activity as it pertains to speech, assembly, and | ||||||
20 | petition. | ||||||
21 | (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed in any manner | ||||||
22 | to: | ||||||
23 | (1) conflict with Section 230 of Title II of the | ||||||
24 | Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230); | ||||||
25 | (2) conflict with 42 U.S.C. 1983; or | ||||||
26 | (3) prohibit any activity protected under the |
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1 | Constitution of the United States or the Illinois | ||||||
2 | Constitution. | ||||||
3 | Section 15. Civil action. | ||||||
4 | (a) A person who is aggrieved by a violation of this Act | ||||||
5 | may bring a civil action against the individual who committed | ||||||
6 | the offense of doxing (or any individual or entity that | ||||||
7 | knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of | ||||||
8 | value, from participation in a venture that the individual or | ||||||
9 | entity knew or should have known involved a violation of this | ||||||
10 | Act) and may recover damages and any other appropriate relief, | ||||||
11 | including reasonable attorney's fees. | ||||||
12 | (b) An individual who is found liable under this Act shall | ||||||
13 | be jointly and severally liable with each other individual, if | ||||||
14 | any, who is found liable under this Act for damages arising | ||||||
15 | from the same violation of this Act. | ||||||
16 | Section 20. Injunctive relief. A court in which a suit is | ||||||
17 | brought under this Act, on the motion of a party, may issue a | ||||||
18 | temporary restraining order, emergency order of protection, or | ||||||
19 | preliminary or permanent injunction to restrain and prevent | ||||||
20 | the disclosure or continued disclosure of a person's | ||||||
21 | personally identifiable information or sensitive personal | ||||||
22 | information. If a person violates any order issued under this | ||||||
23 | Section, the court, in its discretion, may grant any civil | ||||||
24 | remedy under State law. |
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1 | Section 25. Venue. A civil action may be brought in any | ||||||
2 | county in which an element of the offense occurred, or in which | ||||||
3 | a person resides who is the subject of personally identifiable | ||||||
4 | information published in violation of this Act. | ||||||
5 | Section 30. Constitutionality. The General Assembly does | ||||||
6 | not intend this Act to allow, and this Act shall not allow, | ||||||
7 | actions to be brought against constitutionally protected | ||||||
8 | activity. | ||||||
9 | Section 35. Construction and application. This Act shall | ||||||
10 | be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying | ||||||
11 | purpose to protect persons from and provide adequate remedies | ||||||
12 | to victims of doxing.
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13 | Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are | ||||||
14 | severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
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