Full Text of HB0563 95th General Assembly
HB0563ham001 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee
Filed: 3/22/2007
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| AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 563
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 563 by replacing | 3 |
| everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Internet Predator Awareness Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Findings. The General Assembly finds that: | 7 |
| (1) Criminals and sex offenders use online dating | 8 |
| services to prey upon the citizens of this State. | 9 |
| (2) Residents of this State need to be informed when | 10 |
| viewing websites of online dating services as to potential | 11 |
| risks to personal safety associated with online dating. | 12 |
| Also, requiring disclosures in the form of guidelines for | 13 |
| safer dating and informing residents as to whether a | 14 |
| criminal background screening has been conducted on | 15 |
| members of an online dating service fulfills a compelling | 16 |
| State interest to increase public awareness of the possible |
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| risks associated with Internet dating activities.
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| Section 10. Definitions.
As used in this Act: | 3 |
| "Communicate", "communicating", or "communication" means | 4 |
| free-form text authored by a member or real-time voice | 5 |
| communication through an online dating service provider. | 6 |
| "Criminal background screening" means a search for a | 7 |
| person's felony and sexual offense convictions initiated by an | 8 |
| online dating service provider and conducted by one of the | 9 |
| following means: | 10 |
| (1) by searching available and regularly updated | 11 |
| government public record databases for felony and sexual | 12 |
| offense convictions so long as such databases, in the | 13 |
| aggregate, provide substantial national coverage; or | 14 |
| (2) by searching a database maintained by a private | 15 |
| vendor that is regularly updated and is maintained in the | 16 |
| United States with substantial national coverage. | 17 |
| "Department" means the Department of State Police. | 18 |
| "Illinois member" means a member, as defined in this | 19 |
| Section, who provides an Illinois billing address or zip code | 20 |
| when registering with the provider. | 21 |
| "Member" means a person who submits to an online dating | 22 |
| service provider the information required by the provider to | 23 |
| access the provider's service for the purpose of engaging in | 24 |
| dating or participating in compatibility evaluations with | 25 |
| other persons or obtaining matrimonial matching services. |
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| "Online dating service provider" or "provider" means a | 2 |
| person engaged in the business of offering or providing to its | 3 |
| members access to dating and compatibility evaluations between | 4 |
| persons or matrimonial matching services through the Internet. | 5 |
| "Sexual offense conviction" means a conviction for an | 6 |
| offense that would qualify the offender for registration as a | 7 |
| sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act or under | 8 |
| another jurisdiction's equivalent statute. | 9 |
| Section 15. Provider safety awareness disclosures. An | 10 |
| online dating service provider offering services to Illinois | 11 |
| members shall:
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| (1) Provide a safety awareness notification with, at a | 13 |
| minimum, information that includes a list and description | 14 |
| of safety measures reasonably designed to increase | 15 |
| awareness of safer dating practices as determined by the | 16 |
| provider. Examples of such notifications include: | 17 |
| (A) "Anyone who is able to commit identity theft | 18 |
| can also falsify a dating profile." | 19 |
| (B) "There is no substitute for acting with caution | 20 |
| when communicating with a stranger who wants to meet | 21 |
| you." | 22 |
| (C) "Never include your last name, e-mail address, | 23 |
| home address, phone number, place of work, or any other | 24 |
| identifying information in your online profile or | 25 |
| initial e-mail messages. Stop communicating with |
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| anyone who pressures you for personal or financial | 2 |
| information or attempts in any way to trick you into | 3 |
| revealing it." | 4 |
| (D) "If you choose to have a face-to-face meeting | 5 |
| with another member, always tell a family member or a | 6 |
| friend where you are going and when you will return. | 7 |
| Never agree to be picked up at your home. Always | 8 |
| provide your own transportation to and from your date | 9 |
| and meet in a public place at a time with many people | 10 |
| around." | 11 |
| (2) If an online dating service provider does not | 12 |
| conduct criminal background screenings on its members, the | 13 |
| provider shall disclose, clearly and conspicuously, to all | 14 |
| Illinois members that the online dating service provider | 15 |
| does not conduct criminal background screenings. The | 16 |
| disclosure shall be provided when an e-mail or other text | 17 |
| message is sent or received by an Illinois member, on the | 18 |
| profile describing a member to an Illinois member, and on | 19 |
| the provider's website pages used when an Illinois member | 20 |
| signs up. A disclosure under this item (2) shall be in | 21 |
| bold, capital letters in at least 12-point type. | 22 |
| (3) If an online dating service provider conducts | 23 |
| criminal background screenings on all of its communicating | 24 |
| members, the provider shall disclose, clearly and | 25 |
| conspicuously, to all Illinois members that the online | 26 |
| dating service provider conducts a criminal background |
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| screening on each member prior to permitting an Illinois | 2 |
| member to communicate with another member. The disclosure | 3 |
| shall be provided on the provider's website pages used when | 4 |
| an Illinois member signs up. A disclosure under this item | 5 |
| (3) shall be in bold, capital letters in at least 12-point | 6 |
| type. | 7 |
| (4) If an online dating service provider conducts | 8 |
| criminal background screenings, the provider shall | 9 |
| disclose (i) that background screenings of applicants are | 10 |
| not perfect and there is no way to guarantee that the name | 11 |
| provided by a person to be used in a background screening | 12 |
| is the person's true identity; (ii) that not all criminal | 13 |
| records are publicly available; (iii) that
the screenings | 14 |
| may not identify every member who has a felony or sexual | 15 |
| offense conviction and members should participate in the | 16 |
| service at their own risk and use caution when | 17 |
| communicating with other members; and (iv) whether the | 18 |
| provider has a policy allowing a member who has been | 19 |
| identified as having a felony or sexual offense conviction | 20 |
| to have access to its service to communicate with any | 21 |
| Illinois member.
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| Section 20. Civil penalties.
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| (a) An online dating service provider that registers | 24 |
| Illinois members must comply with the provisions of this Act. | 25 |
| (b) Failure to comply with the disclosure requirements of |
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| this Act shall constitute an unlawful practice under the | 2 |
| Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Each | 3 |
| failure to provide a required disclosure constitutes a separate | 4 |
| violation. | 5 |
| Section 25. Exclusions.
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| (a) An Internet access service or other Internet service | 7 |
| provider does not violate this Act solely as a result of | 8 |
| serving as an intermediary for the transmission of a | 9 |
| communication between members of an online dating service | 10 |
| provider. | 11 |
| (b) An Internet access service or other Internet service | 12 |
| provider shall not be considered an online dating service | 13 |
| provider within the meaning of this Act as to any online dating | 14 |
| service website provided by another person or entity.
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| Section 30. Severability. If any provision of this Act or | 16 |
| its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, | 17 |
| the invalidity of that provision or application does not affect | 18 |
| other provisions or applications of this Act that can be given | 19 |
| effect without the invalid provision or application.
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| Section 80. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business | 21 |
| Practices Act is amended by changing Section 2Z as follows:
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| (815 ILCS 505/2Z) (from Ch. 121 1/2, par. 262Z)
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| Sec. 2Z. Violations of other Acts. Any person who knowingly | 2 |
| violates
the Automotive Repair Act, the Automotive Collision | 3 |
| Repair Act,
the Home Repair and Remodeling Act,
the Dance | 4 |
| Studio Act,
the Physical Fitness Services Act,
the Hearing | 5 |
| Instrument Consumer Protection Act,
the Illinois Union Label | 6 |
| Act,
the Job Referral and Job Listing Services Consumer | 7 |
| Protection Act,
the Travel Promotion Consumer Protection Act,
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| the Credit Services Organizations Act,
the Automatic Telephone | 9 |
| Dialers Act,
the Pay-Per-Call Services Consumer Protection | 10 |
| Act, the Internet Predator Awareness Act,
the Telephone | 11 |
| Solicitations Act,
the Illinois Funeral or Burial Funds Act,
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| the Cemetery Care Act,
the Safe and Hygienic Bed Act,
the | 13 |
| Pre-Need Cemetery Sales Act,
the High Risk Home Loan Act, the | 14 |
| Payday Loan Reform Act, the Mortgage Rescue Fraud Act, | 15 |
| subsection (a) or (b) of Section 3-10 of the
Cigarette Tax Act, | 16 |
| the Payday Loan Reform Act, subsection
(a) or (b) of Section | 17 |
| 3-10 of the Cigarette Use Tax Act, the Electronic
Mail Act, | 18 |
| paragraph (6)
of
subsection (k) of Section 6-305 of the | 19 |
| Illinois Vehicle Code, Article 3 of the Residential Real | 20 |
| Property Disclosure Act, the Automatic Contract Renewal Act, or | 21 |
| the Personal Information Protection Act commits an unlawful | 22 |
| practice within the meaning of this Act.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-561, eff. 1-1-04; 93-950, eff. 1-1-05; 94-13, | 24 |
| eff. 12-6-05; 94-36, eff. 1-1-06; 94-280, eff. 1-1-06; 94-292, | 25 |
| eff. 1-1-06; 94-822, eff. 1-1-07.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January | 2 |
| 1, 2008.".
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