Illegal video
2002-04-22 16:22:56+00 by
Dan Lyke
7 comments
There must be more to the story. There's been a bill introduced to make it film someone for a "lewd or lascivious purpose" without that person's consent. This bill would also push websites with "material deemed harmful to minors" off to a ghetto domain. But my real confusion came from:
Landrieu said she wrote the bill after hearing from Wilson,
a Monroe, Louisiana, homemaker who found hidden video cameras
above her bed and in her shower nearly four years ago.
Wilson found she could not pursue criminal charges against the
voyeur because secret video taping, unlike audio surveillance,
is illegal in only a handful of states.
So trespassing isn't a crime in Louisiana? How'd those cameras get there?
[ related topics:
Photography Privacy Sexual Culture
]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment made: 2002-04-22 16:30:53+00 by:
petronius
It also seems to me that if peeping in the ladies window is illeagal (maybe an unwarrented assumption in LA.), than using a video camera is not that much of a stretch. I also think a civil lawsuit would do well.
#Comment made: 2002-04-22 18:24:48+00 by:
Jerry Kindall
I seem to recall that Louisiana's legal system is based on the French model, not the English one like most other states, so there can be significant differences between LA law (heh) and your expectations.
In any case, tresspassing is probably a misdemeanor; surely someone who'd do something like what was done to this woman deserves more than a small fine and time served...
#Comment made: 2002-04-22 18:39:22+00 by:
Dan Lyke
So call it breaking and entering. Given some of the hassles I've seen while researching model release information for photography, this seems like a trumped up cause stemming from Ms. Wilson being represented by an incompetent DA, not something we need a new, probably very specific, law.
The other thing that leads me to think that there are underhanded machinations at work, is: why tie a video privacy law to a "harmful to minors" net ghetto restriction? Is Ms. Landrieu trying to cloak skullduggery in "protect the innocent housewives" garb?
#Comment made: 2002-04-22 20:18:15+00 by:
shmuel
The neighbor who did it pled guilty to "unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling." Got probation, and had to pay $2000 for damage to the home. But that was it...
#Comment made: 2002-04-23 01:18:54+00 by:
meuon
The neighbor that did it should live in fear. Mine do. ;)
#Comment made: 2002-04-23 03:21:38+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Aaah. I'm obviously tainted by living in California, where movie star protection is an election issue. And, of course, where you're likely to get beaten up for taking pictures of certain people on the street, thank you Sean Penn.
#Comment made: 2002-04-23 04:39:44+00 by:
Mark A. Hershberger
[edit history]
To add fuel to the fire, the neighbor was a deacon in the persons church.
http://www.lifetimetv.com/movi...ig_movies/move3020/synopsis.html
(http://www.theplusguard.com/news.html)
This website-without-an-agenda (they sell a tool that finds hidden cameras) points to a couple of Orange County Register stories about a landlord who hid cameras in the renter's bathroom.
Here's a letter from the ACLU to Gov. Foster, the much-beloved governor (I'm laughing!) of our state.
And EPIC has a bit on this whole thing, with references to X10:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/gender/