(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
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(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
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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
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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
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an act by any person which would be a violation of this Code directed towards that person or a family member of that person.
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(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
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future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, where the threat is directed towards that person or a family member of that person, or
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(2) which places that person or a family member of
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that person in reasonable apprehension of immediate or future bodily harm, sexual assault, confinement, or restraint, or
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(3) which knowingly solicits the commission of an act
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by any person which would be a violation of this Code directed towards that person or a family member of that person.
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(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,
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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.
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(2) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of
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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.
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(3) "Emotional distress" means significant mental
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suffering, anxiety or alarm.
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(4) "Harass" means to engage in a knowing and willful
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course of conduct directed at a specific person that alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person.
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(5) "Non-consensual contact" means any contact with
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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.
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(6) "Reasonable person" means a person in the
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victim's circumstances, with the victim's knowledge of the defendant and the defendant's prior acts.
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(7) "Third party" means any person other than the
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person violating these provisions and the person or persons towards whom the violator's actions are directed.
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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.
(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.
(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.)
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