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Public Act 095-0849
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| SB2426 Enrolled |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as |
the Cyberbullying Law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by changing |
Section 12-7.5 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 5/12-7.5)
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Sec. 12-7.5. Cyberstalking.
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(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:
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(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
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(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 |
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(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 |
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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:
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"Harass"
means to engage in a knowing and willful course of |
conduct directed at a
specific person
that alarms, torments, or |
terrorizes that person.
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"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 |
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transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, |
electronmagnetic,
photoelectric, or photo-optical system. |
"Electronic communication" includes
transmissions by a
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computer through the Internet to another computer.
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(c) Sentence. Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony. A second |
or subsequent
conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony.
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(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.)
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Section 10. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is |
amended by changing Section 1-2 as follows:
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(720 ILCS 135/1-2)
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Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
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(a) Harassment through electronic communications is the |
use of electronic
communication for any of the following |
purposes:
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(1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or |
proposal which is obscene
with an intent to offend;
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(2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the |
telephone service or the
electronic communication service |
of any person;
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(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
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her telephone service or electronic communications device;
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(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;
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(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
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(5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications |
device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this |
subsection (a).
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(b) As used in this Act:
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(1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of |
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signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or |
intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part |
by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
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photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes |
transmissions by a computer through the Internet to another |
computer.
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(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
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relationship.
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(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 |