July 26, 2004
Law May Curb Cell Phone Camera Use
Cell phone camera voyeurism will soon be a federal offense if the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004 continues its nearly unopposed march through Congress, reports PC World.
"The bill, designed to protect people's privacy from prying camera phones, needs only to pass the House of Representatives and to be signed by the president to become law. While Congress didn't consider it before recessing this week, proponents say chances are good the bill could pass this year.
The Video Voyeurism Prevention Act prohibits photographing or videotaping a naked person without his or her consent in any place where there can be "a reasonable expectation of privacy." Punishment would include fines of up to $100,000 or up to a year in prison, or both.
S.1301 was first introduced in 2000, two years before the first cell phone cameras appeared in the United States. Its original language focused mainly on privacy infringements using hidden video cameras.
After cell phones with cameras caught on here in 2002 and 2003, language was added specifically addressing their potential for privacy violations, and S.1301 then drew greater attention in Congress.
The Senate passed the legislation unanimously in September. The House Judiciary Committee approved it with very little opposition in May."
[...] "The road toward a federal video voyeurism law began with two cases, one in Louisiana and one in Washington state; in both, video technology was used to violate privacy.
-- In the first case, Susan and Gary Wilson of Monroe, Louisiana discovered a neighbor had installed hidden cameras in the Wilsons' master bedroom and bathroom.
-- The second case occurred in Washington state, where Richard Sorrells secretly aimed a video camera up a woman's skirt as she waited at an ice cream stand during a festival in 2000
In 2002, state lawmakers changed the law to give legal recourse to people whose privacy was violated in public. That was well in time to prosecute Jack Le Vu, the first known cell phone camera voyeur to be convicted in the U.S.
-- In July 2003, 20-year-old Vu was seen in a Seattle area Safeway using a cell phone camera to covertly snap pictures beneath the skirt of a woman shopping next to him. He was sentenced to 60 days jail time and forced to register as a sex offender.
"Unlike Washington and Louisiana, most states' criminal codes still do not protect a person's privacy while they are in public places. State privacy laws are primarily geared toward prosecuting "Peeping Toms" who spy on people in their homes, not in public places.
Oxley's Video Voyeurism Prevention Act would provide a remedy in the federal criminal code for exactly that problem, advocates say.
The bill also serves as model legislation for states that have not enacted their own laws, or for those that need to update existing laws in light of the rapid spread of camera technology, according to the bill's authors."
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