Bill Text: IL HB3289 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Adds a definition of "anxiety" to the statute defining cyberstalking based upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) definition of anxiety.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-30 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 103-0183 [HB3289 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB3289-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB3289 Introduced , by Rep. Anne Stava-Murray SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
720 ILCS 5/12-7.5
Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Adds a definition of "anxiety" to the statute defining cyberstalking based upon the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) definition of anxiety.
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A BILL FOR
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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

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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

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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

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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:
(0.5) "Anxiety" means excessive worry and apprehensive
expectations, occurring more days than not for at least 6
months, about a number of events or activities, such as
work or school performance and is associated with 3 or
more of the following 6 symptoms with at least some
symptoms present for more days than not for the past 6
months:
(1) restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge;
(2) easily fatigued;
(3) difficulty concentrating or mind going blank;
(4) irritability;
(5) muscle tension; and
(6) sleep disturbance such as difficulty falling
or staying asleep, or restless and unsatisfying sleep.
The anxiety, worry, or physical symptoms cause
clinically significant distress or impairment in social,
occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
(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,

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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

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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

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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

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(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. 100-166, eff. 1-1-18.)