Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 095-0849
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Public Act 095-0849


 

Public Act 0849 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 095-0849
 
SB2426 Enrolled LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b

    AN ACT concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as
the Cyberbullying 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,
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) As used in this Section:
    "Harass" means to engage in a knowing and willful course of
conduct directed at a specific person that alarms, torments, or
terrorizes that person.
    "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.
    "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,
electronmagnetic, photoelectric, or photo-optical system.
"Electronic communication" includes transmissions by a
computer through the Internet to another computer.
    (c) Sentence. Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony. A second
or subsequent conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony.
    (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. 92-199, eff. 8-1-01.)
 
    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 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. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2009