Full Text of HB4640 097th General Assembly
HB4640 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2011 and 2012 HB4640 Introduced 2/1/2012, by Rep. Darlene J. Senger SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 720 ILCS 135/1-2 | | 720 ILCS 135/1-2.5 new | |
720 ILCS 135/2 | from Ch. 134, par. 16.5 |
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Amends the Harassing and Obscene Communications Act. In addition to other elements of the offense, provides that harassment through electronic communications includes knowingly and by any means making repeated,
unwanted, and harassing communication to another person. Creates the offense of harassment by cyber identity
theft. Defines the offense and establishes penalties for violation. Effective immediately.
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| | | CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning criminal law.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Sections 1-2 and 2 and by adding Section | 6 | | 1-2.5 as follows: | 7 | | (720 ILCS 135/1-2) | 8 | | Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications. | 9 | | (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the | 10 | | use of electronic
communication for any of the following | 11 | | purposes: | 12 | | (1) Transmitting Making any comment, request, | 13 | | suggestion or proposal which is obscene
with an intent to | 14 | | offend; | 15 | | (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the | 16 | | telephone service or the
electronic communication service | 17 | | of any person; | 18 | | (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to | 19 | | harass and regardless
of whether the communication is read | 20 | | in its entirety or at all, any file,
document, or other | 21 | | communication which prevents that person from using his or
| 22 | | her telephone service or electronic communications device; | 23 | | (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or |
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| 1 | | knowingly inducing a
person to transmit an electronic | 2 | | communication for the purpose of harassing
another person | 3 | | who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the | 4 | | person
under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if | 5 | | the defendant is at least
16 years of age at the time of | 6 | | the commission of the offense; | 7 | | (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property | 8 | | of the person to
whom an electronic communication is | 9 | | directed or to any of his or her family or
household | 10 | | members; or | 11 | | (4.1) Knowingly and by any means making repeated,
| 12 | | unwanted, and harassing communication to another person; | 13 | | or | 14 | | (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications | 15 | | device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this | 16 | | subsection (a). | 17 | | (b) As used in this Act: | 18 | | (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of | 19 | | signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or | 20 | | intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part | 21 | | by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
| 22 | | photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes | 23 | | transmissions through an electronic device including, but | 24 | | not limited to, a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or | 25 | | pager, which communication includes, but is not limited to, | 26 | | e-mail, instant message, text message, or voice mail. |
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| 1 | | (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, | 2 | | former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other | 3 | | persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, | 4 | | persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, | 5 | | persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship | 6 | | through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or | 7 | | engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and | 8 | | their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act, | 9 | | neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary | 10 | | fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social | 11 | | contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
| 12 | | relationship. | 13 | | (c) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service | 14 | | providers, and providers of information services, including, | 15 | | but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting | 16 | | service providers, are not liable under this Section, except | 17 | | for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the | 18 | | transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications | 19 | | or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other | 20 | | related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or | 21 | | information services used by others in violation of this | 22 | | Section. | 23 | | (Source: P.A. 96-328, eff. 8-11-09; 97-303, eff. 8-11-11.) | 24 | | (720 ILCS 135/1-2.5 new) | 25 | | Sec. 1-2.5. Harassment by cyber identity theft. |
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| 1 | | (a) A person commits harassment by cyber identity
theft | 2 | | when he or she knowingly: | 3 | | (1) creates, modifies, or uses a fictitious online | 4 | | account with
the intent to harass, defame, or otherwise | 5 | | humiliate a person
or entity without the consent of that | 6 | | person or entity; or | 7 | | (2) without the authorization of an account holder or | 8 | | in excess
of the authority granted by an account holder to | 9 | | him or to her: | 10 | | (A) accesses or causes to be accessed by any means | 11 | | an
electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, or | 12 | | social
networking website account; | 13 | | (B) accesses or causes to be accessed by any means | 14 | | an
electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, or | 15 | | social
networking website account, and views the | 16 | | content of an
electronic communication; or | 17 | | (C) accesses or causes to be accessed by any means | 18 | | a
computer or any part thereof, a computer network,
| 19 | | electronic mail (e-mail), instant messaging, or social
| 20 | | networking website account, and | 21 | | (i) deletes an electronic communication; or | 22 | | (ii) transmits an electronic communication | 23 | | purporting
to be the account holder; or | 24 | | (iii) changes the password for the account; | 25 | | (3) without the authorization of an account holder or | 26 | | in excess
of the authority granted by an account holder to |
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| 1 | | him or her: | 2 | | (A) accesses or causes to be accessed by any means | 3 | | a social
networking website account, and: | 4 | | (i) alters the privacy settings for the | 5 | | account
holder's account; or | 6 | | (ii) gives himself or another access to view | 7 | | private
content on the account holder's social | 8 | | networking
website account; | 9 | | (B) accesses or causes to be accessed by any means | 10 | | a
computer or any part thereof, a computer network,
| 11 | | electronic mail (e-mail) account, instant messaging
| 12 | | account, social networking website account, and | 13 | | (i) adds, deletes, or alters content; or | 14 | | (ii) posts content or an electronic | 15 | | communication to
another's social networking | 16 | | website account
purporting to be from the account | 17 | | holder. | 18 | | (b) Definitions. | 19 | | (1) Unless as otherwise
specified in this subsection | 20 | | (b), terms used in this Section 1-2.5
shall have the same | 21 | | meanings as the terms defined in Article 17 of
the Criminal | 22 | | Code of 1961. | 23 | | (2) As used in this Section 1-2.5: | 24 | | "Access" means to, by any means, use, instruct,
| 25 | | communicate with, store data in, retrieve or intercept | 26 | | data
from, or otherwise utilize any services of, a |
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| 1 | | computer, a
network, or data. | 2 | | "Account holder" means the person or entity to whom | 3 | | or
to which electronic mail or instant message service
| 4 | | account, social networking website profile, or other
| 5 | | virtual identity is registered. | 6 | | "Fictitious online account" means any electronic | 7 | | mail
instant messaging, social networking website, | 8 | | weblog or
micro weblog account or any other virtual | 9 | | identity
associated with any computer or on-line | 10 | | service which
falsely purports to belong to or be | 11 | | created by any person
unless the account or profile | 12 | | clearly indicates that it
does not represent or is | 13 | | associated with that person or
entity. An account or | 14 | | profile clearly indicates that it
does not represent or | 15 | | is associated with a person or entity
when electronic | 16 | | messages which are not limited in length
contain an | 17 | | express disclosure or when the account profile
| 18 | | expressly discloses the same. "Fictitious online | 19 | | account"
does not include an account created and | 20 | | utilized by a law
enforcement officer solely in the | 21 | | performance of his or her duties.
| 22 | | (720 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 134, par. 16.5)
| 23 | | Sec. 2. Sentence.
| 24 | | (a) Except as provided in
subsection (b), a
person who | 25 | | violates any of the provisions of
Section 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of |
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| 1 | | this Act
is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
Except as provided
| 2 | | in subsection (b), a second or subsequent
violation of Section | 3 | | 1, 1-1, or 1-2 of this
Act is a Class A
misdemeanor, for which | 4 | | the
court
shall impose a minimum of 14 days in
jail or, if | 5 | | public or
community service is established in the county in | 6 | | which the offender was
convicted, 240 hours of public or | 7 | | community service.
| 8 | | (b) In any of the following circumstances, a person who | 9 | | violates Section 1,
1-1, or
1-2 of this Act shall be guilty of | 10 | | a Class 4 felony:
| 11 | | (1) The person has 3 or more prior violations in the | 12 | | last 10 years of
harassment
by
telephone under Section 1-1 | 13 | | of this Act, harassment through electronic
communications | 14 | | under Section 1-2 of this Act, or any similar offense of | 15 | | any
state;
| 16 | | (2) The person has previously violated the harassment | 17 | | by telephone
provisions of Section 1-1 of this Act or the | 18 | | harassment through electronic
communications provisions of | 19 | | Section 1-2 of this Act or committed any similar
offense in | 20 | | any state with the same victim or a member of the victim's | 21 | | family or
household;
| 22 | | (3) At the time of the offense, the offender was under | 23 | | conditions of bail,
probation, mandatory supervised | 24 | | release or was the subject of an order of
protection, in | 25 | | this or any other state, prohibiting contact with the | 26 | | victim or
any member of the victim's family or household;
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| 1 | | (4) In the course of the offense, the offender | 2 | | threatened to kill the
victim or any member of the victim's | 3 | | family or household;
| 4 | | (5) The person has been convicted in the last 10 years | 5 | | of a forcible
felony
as defined in Section 2-8 of the | 6 | | Criminal Code of 1961;
| 7 | | (6) The person violates paragraph (4.1) of Section 1-1 | 8 | | or paragraph
(3.1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2; or | 9 | | (7) The person was at least 18 years of age at the time | 10 | | of the commission of the offense and the victim was under | 11 | | 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the | 12 | | offense.
| 13 | | (c) A person who violates Section 1-2.5
shall be guilty of: | 14 | | (1) A Class B misdemeanor for a violation of | 15 | | subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of | 16 | | Section 1-2.5 for which
the court shall impose a minimum | 17 | | fine of $500 or, if public or
community service is | 18 | | established in the county in which the
offender was | 19 | | convicted, 30 hours of public or community
service. | 20 | | (2) A Class A misdemeanor for a first violation of
| 21 | | paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2.5, | 22 | | subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of | 23 | | Section 1-2.5, or subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of | 24 | | subsection (a) of Section 1-2.5,
for which the court shall | 25 | | impose a minimum fine of $1,000 or,
if public or community | 26 | | service is established in the county in
which the offender |
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| 1 | | was convicted, 80 hours of public or
community service. | 2 | | (3) A Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent
| 3 | | violation of paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Section | 4 | | 1-2.5, subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) | 5 | | of Section 1-2.5, or subparagraph (A) of paragraph (3) of | 6 | | subsection (a) of Section 1-2.5. | 7 | | (4) A Class 4 felony for a violation of subparagraph | 8 | | (C) of paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of Section 1-2.5 or | 9 | | subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) of subsection (a) of | 10 | | Section 1-
2.5. | 11 | | (Source: P.A. 95-984, eff. 6-1-09 .)
| 12 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 13 | | becoming law.
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