November 26, 2003
Newark legislature drafting law for camera phones and similar technology
It seems like existing Peeping Tom legislation in the US does need some uplifting, if a man was actually let off the hook after hidding a video recorder in a floral arrangement and tapping two unsuspecting females as they undressed in his bathroom. "The court ruled that under existing law, the law is broken only if someone "peers into a window or other opening" -- and the defendant had not done so".
"Moving to fill that loophole, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would make it a crime to surreptitiously view or videotape someone in a bathroom, bedroom, dressing room, or other private place where people undress or engage in intimate activity.
The bill also would make it a crime to disseminate sexually explicit photographs of unsuspecting locker room users, houseguests, tenants, ex-spouses or others", reports The Star Ledger via Camera Phone Report.
OK- all of this seems very common sense and a positive thing that the law will protect people who are abused in this way. And Alan Reiter makes a good suggestion to the wireless industry, calling them to "begin utilizing the talents of its advertising and marketing experts to provide customer education, promoting the value of camera phones for a variety of uses while, at the same time, providing information about how to be a "responsible" camera phone user. How big a black eye does the camera phone industry want to get before it takes some action?" Hear, Hear!
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