On September 25, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a bill (S. 1301) to prevent video voyeurism. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the legislation on July 13 (see The Source, 7/25/03).
Sponsored by Sens. Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), the bill would make it a federal crime to knowingly “capture,” by videotaping, filming, or photographing, an “improper image” of another individual, defined in the bill as “an image, captured without the consent of that individual, of the naked or undergarment clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast of that individual…”
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) explained the need for the bill: “In recent years, the explosion of micro-camera technology has fed the growing phenomenon of video voyeurism. Hidden cameras have been discovered in bedrooms, bathrooms, public showers, changing rooms, locker rooms, and tanning salons, all aimed at filming unsuspecting victims in various states of undress. Often, the invasion of privacy is exacerbated when captured images are posted on the Internet for all the world to see.”
