It's completely legal for people in Georgia to take photos and videos up women's skirts without their knowledge, according to a 6-3 Court of Appeals ruling this week. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the ruling stems from an incident in which a grocery store clerk was caught taking multiple cellphone videos up a female shopper's skirt. The Court of Appeals threw out his conviction, finding his behavior was "reprehensible" but not technically illegal thanks to the current wording of Georgia's privacy laws. It urged the legislature to fix the law, but the legislature doesn't meet again until 2017. "So we're going to have six months or so where these creeps can run around doing this stuff," Sen. Vincent Fort tells WCGL.
There have been similar cases in dozens of states, Mic reports. Many privacy laws, as in Georgia, make it illegal to photograph women in private areas, such as bathroom stalls and dressing rooms, but totally fine to do it in public, regardless of how invasive the photo is. In 2014, a judge in Washington DC ruled women have no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in public. A lawyer in California tells Mic the problem is that “the law can never keep up with changing technology.” Fort says he'll move to correct Georgia's law and stop upskirt perverts as soon as the legislature reconvenes.
There have been similar cases in dozens of states, Mic reports. Many privacy laws, as in Georgia, make it illegal to photograph women in private areas, such as bathroom stalls and dressing rooms, but totally fine to do it in public, regardless of how invasive the photo is. In 2014, a judge in Washington DC ruled women have no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in public. A lawyer in California tells Mic the problem is that “the law can never keep up with changing technology.” Fort says he'll move to correct Georgia's law and stop upskirt perverts as soon as the legislature reconvenes.
