This line from the opinion is particularly memorable: >Up-skirt video voyeurism is apparently a thriving internet business, with >about a hundred web sites devoted to up-skirt and other candid body shots >of unsuspecting female victims in public places. -Declan ******** http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wa&vol=2001_app/19111-7&invol=3 Filed July 5, 2001 Washington's voyeurism statute, RCW 9A.44.115, prohibits the photographing of a person without that person's knowledge and consent in "a place where he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy." The statute then defines one such place as "[a] place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from . . . hostile intrusion . . . ." RCW 9A.44.115(1)(b)(ii). Sean T. Glas was caught photographing up women's skirts at a public shopping mall in Union Gap, Washington. The State charged him with violating the voyeurism statute. He claims the statute is constitutionally defective because it is vague (what is a hostile intrusion). He also argues that, looked at facially (not as applied to him), it is overbroad. We conclude that the statute passes constitutional muster. It is neither vague nor overbroad as applied here or facially. We therefore affirm Mr. Glas's conviction for violation of Washington's voyeurism statute. ... Sean T. Glas took photographs under the skirts of two women. Both were employees at the Valley Mall in Union Gap. The State charged him with two counts of voyeurism. The pertinent statute defines voyeurism as taking photographs for the sexual gratification of any person in a place where the subject has a reasonable expectation of privacy and without the subject's consent. RCW 9A.44.115(2). Mr. Glas argued that the women had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public mall, and there was no evidence he was sexually aroused or gratified by his conduct. He moved to dismiss the prosecution. The court denied his motion. After a bench trial, the court found that Mr. Glas took photographs up each woman's skirt without her consent or knowledge. Each woman had "a reasonable expectation of privacy while at her workplace to be free from non-consensual photographing up underneath her skirt." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 47, 48. The court found the photographs were hostile intrusions that violated the privacy interest and expectation of the women and that the pictures were taken to arouse or gratify sexual desire on an internet web site. Mr. Glas was convicted of two counts of voyeurism. He appealed. Our commissioner refused to affirm on the merits based on the absence of prior judicial interpretation of the voyeurism statute and Mr. Glas's constitutional challenge. ... The Statute A person commits the crime of voyeurism if, for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person, he or she knowingly views, photographs, or films another person, without that person's knowledge and consent, while the person being viewed, photographed, or filmed is in a place where he or she would have a reasonable expectation of privacy. ... Up-skirt video voyeurism is apparently a thriving internet business, with about a hundred web sites devoted to up-skirt and other candid body shots of unsuspecting female victims in public places. Professionals employed by these sites and amateur contributors are part of a cottage industry of stalking and secretly filming victims and disseminating the images on the internet. David D. Kremenetsky, Insatiable "Up-Skirt" Voyeurs Force California Lawmakers to Expand Privacy Protection in Public Places, 31 McGeorge L. Rev. 285, 287 (2000). ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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