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.