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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
[Clearly state legislators cannot be trusted to recognize the dread menace of surreptitious videotaping and take appropriate measures themselves. Naturally existing laws, such as trespass and harassment are entirely insufficient to address this clear and present danger, as a multitude of court cases has shown us. Of course encouraging the FBI to spend more time prosecuting voyeurs and less time investigating terrorists is a wise idea. --Declan] --- http://www.senate.gov/~landrieu/releases/02/2002417521.html FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2002 Landrieu: New Bill Makes Video Voyeurism A Federal Crime Louisiana Story Leads To Federal Legislation (WASHINGTON DC) Under a new bill introduced today by Senator Mary Landrieu(D-La.), secretly videotaping a person in intimate situations without their consent would become a federal crime. The bill was inspired by a woman in Louisiana who discovered after she was secretly taped that there was no law against such an act. Mirrored after Louisiana's new law, the Landrieu legislation would make "video voyeurism" a crime punishable by up to three years in prison in case of adult victims, and up to ten years in prison when a child is involved. "In the privacy of our own homes, none of us should have to wonder whether or not we're being secretly watched-- and even recorded," said Senator Landrieu. "Unfortunately, our laws haven't kept up with the new technology that makes this kind of invasion of privacy very easy to accomplish. This act of "video voyeurism" is not addressed by our federal legal system and in most states, it's not even a crime. The legislation I am introducing today helps fill this gaping hole in our privacy laws, so that if someone is secretly watching you, under this bill it will be a crime punishable by law." The legislation was unveiled at a press conference where Senator Landrieu was joined by Monroe, Louisiana activist Susan Wilson, whose story inspired the bill, Actor Angie Harmon, who played Susan in the Lifetime Original Movie "Video Voyeur," and two New Orleans natives, Executive Producer Blue Andre, and Mary Dixon, Lifetime's Vice President of Public Affairs. "I'm so grateful to Senator Landrieu and Lifetime Television for their commitment to this issue," said Susan Wilson. "This bill will help provide victims and their families with much-needed protection and ensure some accountability for those who violate the privacy of others." "Susan Wilson had to learn the hard way that a high-tech invasion of privacy wasn't against the law in Louisiana-- or any other state," said Senator Landrieu. "She's fought to make changes in Louisiana's laws so that victims in Louisiana can pursue a legal remedy. But there shouldn't have to be a Susan Wilson in every state in order for people to be protected from this kind of horrifying event. I hope this legislation will act as a deterrent-- but if it doesn't, at least victims will have the strength of federal law behind them." The new bill, entitled the "Family Privacy and Protection Act," would create two new federal crimes of video voyeurism, one dealing with adults and one dealing with minors. Under the bill, any person who uses a camera or similar recording device to record another individual either for a lewd or lascivious purpose without that person's consent is in violation of the law. The penalty for violation is a fine and/or imprisonment of up to three years, or ten years in the case of a minor. In addition, the bill would set up an Internet domain (such as .prn) for material harmful to minors and requires all websites containing such material to register on that domain name. Any websites currently on other domains (such as .com, .org, etc.) would be required to close down those sites and move to the new domain. _________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign this pro-therapeutic cloning petition: http://www.franklinsociety.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------