Full Text of SB2426 95th General Assembly
SB2426enr 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
|
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| AN ACT concerning criminal law, which may be referred to as | 2 |
| the Cyberbullying Law.
| 3 |
| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 4 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
| 5 |
| Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by changing | 6 |
| Section 12-7.5 as follows:
| 7 |
| (720 ILCS 5/12-7.5)
| 8 |
| Sec. 12-7.5. Cyberstalking.
| 9 |
| (a) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, | 10 |
| knowingly and without
lawful justification, on at least 2 | 11 |
| separate occasions, harasses another person
through the use of | 12 |
| electronic communication and:
| 13 |
| (1) at any time transmits a threat of immediate or | 14 |
| future bodily harm,
sexual assault, confinement, or | 15 |
| restraint and the threat is directed towards
that person or | 16 |
| a family member of that person, or
| 17 |
| (2) places that person or a family member of that | 18 |
| person in reasonable
apprehension of immediate or future | 19 |
| bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement,
or restraint ; or | 20 |
| .
| 21 |
| (3) at any time knowingly solicits the commission of an | 22 |
| act by any person which would be a violation of this Code | 23 |
| directed towards that person or a family member of that |
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
- 2 - |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| person. | 2 |
| (a-5) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she, | 3 |
| knowingly and without lawful justification, creates and | 4 |
| maintains an Internet website or webpage which is accessible to | 5 |
| one or more third parties for a period of at least 24 hours, | 6 |
| and which contains statements harassing another person and: | 7 |
| (1) which communicates a threat of immediate or future | 8 |
| bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, | 9 |
| where the threat is directed towards that person or a | 10 |
| family member of that person, or | 11 |
| (2) which places that person or a family member of that | 12 |
| person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future | 13 |
| bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, or | 14 |
| (3) which knowingly solicits the commission of an act | 15 |
| by any person which would be a violation of this Code | 16 |
| directed towards that person or a family member of that | 17 |
| person. | 18 |
| (b) As used in this Section:
| 19 |
| "Harass"
means to engage in a knowing and willful course of | 20 |
| conduct directed at a
specific person
that alarms, torments, or | 21 |
| terrorizes that person.
| 22 |
| "Third party" means any person other than the person | 23 |
| violating these provisions and the person or persons towards | 24 |
| whom the violator's actions are directed. | 25 |
| "Electronic communication" means any
transfer of signs, | 26 |
| signals, writings, sounds, data, or intelligence of any
nature |
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
- 3 - |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, | 2 |
| electronmagnetic,
photoelectric, or photo-optical system. | 3 |
| "Electronic communication" includes
transmissions by a
| 4 |
| computer through the Internet to another computer.
| 5 |
| (c) Sentence. Cyberstalking is a Class 4 felony. A second | 6 |
| or subsequent
conviction for cyberstalking is a Class 3 felony.
| 7 |
| (d) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service | 8 |
| providers, and providers of information services, including, | 9 |
| but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting | 10 |
| service providers, are not liable under this Section, except | 11 |
| for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the | 12 |
| transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications | 13 |
| or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other | 14 |
| related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or | 15 |
| information services used by others in violation of this | 16 |
| Section. | 17 |
| (Source: P.A. 92-199, eff. 8-1-01.)
| 18 |
| Section 10. The Harassing and Obscene Communications Act is | 19 |
| amended by changing Section 1-2 as follows:
| 20 |
| (720 ILCS 135/1-2)
| 21 |
| Sec. 1-2. Harassment through electronic communications.
| 22 |
| (a) Harassment through electronic communications is the | 23 |
| use of electronic
communication for any of the following | 24 |
| purposes:
|
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
- 4 - |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| (1) Making any comment, request, suggestion or | 2 |
| proposal which is obscene
with an intent to offend;
| 3 |
| (2) Interrupting, with the intent to harass, the | 4 |
| telephone service or the
electronic communication service | 5 |
| of any person;
| 6 |
| (3) Transmitting to any person, with the intent to | 7 |
| harass and regardless
of whether the communication is read | 8 |
| in its entirety or at all, any file,
document, or other | 9 |
| communication which prevents that person from using his or
| 10 |
| her telephone service or electronic communications device;
| 11 |
| (3.1) Transmitting an electronic communication or | 12 |
| knowingly inducing a
person to transmit an electronic | 13 |
| communication for the purpose of harassing
another person | 14 |
| who is under 13 years of age, regardless of whether the | 15 |
| person
under 13 years of age consents to the harassment, if | 16 |
| the defendant is at least
16 years of age at the time of | 17 |
| the commission of the offense;
| 18 |
| (4) Threatening injury to the person or to the property | 19 |
| of the person to
whom an electronic communication is | 20 |
| directed or to any of his or her family or
household | 21 |
| members; or
| 22 |
| (5) Knowingly permitting any electronic communications | 23 |
| device to be used
for any of the purposes mentioned in this | 24 |
| subsection (a).
| 25 |
| (b) As used in this Act:
| 26 |
| (1) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of |
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
- 5 - |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| signs, signals,
writings, images, sounds, data or | 2 |
| intelligence of any nature transmitted in
whole or in part | 3 |
| by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectric or
| 4 |
| photo-optical system. "Electronic communication" includes | 5 |
| transmissions by a computer through the Internet to another | 6 |
| computer.
| 7 |
| (2) "Family or household member" includes spouses, | 8 |
| former spouses,
parents,
children, stepchildren and other | 9 |
| persons related by blood or by present or
prior
marriage, | 10 |
| persons who share or formerly shared a common dwelling, | 11 |
| persons who
have or allegedly share a blood relationship | 12 |
| through a child, persons who have
or have had a dating or | 13 |
| engagement relationship, and persons with disabilities
and | 14 |
| their personal assistants. For purposes of this Act, | 15 |
| neither a casual
acquaintanceship nor ordinary | 16 |
| fraternization between 2 individuals in
business or social | 17 |
| contexts shall be deemed to constitute a dating
| 18 |
| relationship.
| 19 |
| (c) Telecommunications carriers, commercial mobile service | 20 |
| providers, and providers of information services, including, | 21 |
| but not limited to, Internet service providers and hosting | 22 |
| service providers, are not liable under this Section, except | 23 |
| for willful and wanton misconduct, by virtue of the | 24 |
| transmission, storage, or caching of electronic communications | 25 |
| or messages of others or by virtue of the provision of other | 26 |
| related telecommunications, commercial mobile services, or |
|
|
|
SB2426 Enrolled |
- 6 - |
LRB095 19685 RLC 46036 b |
|
| 1 |
| information services used by others in violation of this | 2 |
| Section. | 3 |
| (Source: P.A. 90-578, eff. 6-1-98; 91-878, eff. 1-1-01.)
|
|