Public Act 100-0166
 
HB3251 EnrolledLRB100 10504 RLC 20719 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 2012 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-4) A person commits cyberstalking when he or she 
knowingly, surreptitiously, and without lawful justification, 
installs or otherwise places electronic monitoring software or 
spyware on an electronic communication device as a means to 
harass another person 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;
        (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.
    For purposes of this Section, an installation or placement 
is not surreptitious  if:
        (1) with respect to electronic software, hardware, or 
    computer applications, clear notice regarding the use of 
    the specific type of tracking software or spyware is 
    provided by the installer in advance to the owners and 
    primary users of the electronic software, hardware, or 
    computer application; or
        (2) written or electronic consent of all owners and 
    primary users of the electronic software, hardware, or 
    computer application on which the tracking software or 
    spyware will be installed has been sought and obtained 
    through a mechanism that does not seek to obtain any other 
    approvals or acknowledgement from the owners and primary 
    users. 
    (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 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. 
        (2.1) "Electronic communication device" means an 
    electronic device, including, but not limited to, a 
    wireless telephone, personal digital assistant, or a 
    portable or mobile computer.
        (2.2) "Electronic monitoring software or spyware" 
    means software or an application that surreptitiously 
    tracks computer activity on a device and records and 
    transmits the information to third parties with the intent 
    to cause injury or harm.  For the purposes of this paragraph 
    (2.2), "intent to cause injury or harm" does not include 
    activities carried out in furtherance of the prevention of 
    fraud or crime or of protecting the security of networks, 
    online services, applications, software, other computer 
    programs, users, or electronic communication devices or 
    similar devices. 
        (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. 
    (e)  A defendant who directed the actions of a third party 
to violate this Section, under the principles of accountability 
set forth in Article 5 of this Code, is guilty of violating 
this Section as if the same had been personally done by the 
defendant, without regard to the mental state of the third 
party acting at the direction of the defendant. 
    (f) It is not a violation of this Section to:
        (1)  provide, protect, maintain, update, or upgrade 
    networks, online services, applications, software, other 
    computer programs, electronic communication devices, or 
    similar devices under the terms of use applicable to those 
    networks, services, applications, software, programs, or 
    devices;
        (2)   interfere with or prohibit terms or conditions in a 
    contract or license related to networks, online services, 
    applications, software, other computer programs, 
    electronic communication devices, or similar devices; or
        (3)   create any liability by reason of terms or 
    conditions adopted, or technical measures implemented, to 
    prevent the transmission of unsolicited electronic mail or 
    communications. 
(Source: P.A. 96-328, eff. 8-11-09; 96-686, eff. 1-1-10; 
96-1000, eff. 7-2-10; 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11; 97-303, eff. 
8-11-11; 97-311, eff. 8-11-11; 97-1109, eff. 1-1-13.)