Bill Would Ban Surreptitious Taping by ‘Video Voyeurs’

Assemblyman Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton) is putting forward a simple proposition: Shouldn’t it be illegal for men to peer up a woman’s skirt or down her blouse--with a hidden video camera?

Ackerman is asking his colleagues to outlaw what police say is an increasing and potentially lucrative activity: surreptitious “upskirting” and “down-blousing” of women.

Aided by sophisticated equipment easily hidden in backpacks, briefcases, duffel bags and the like, video stalkers have been invading the privacy of women at shopping malls, amusement parks, beaches and other public places.

Video footage of unsuspecting women is winding up on a growing array of Internet sites. “None of [the women], I’m sure, are aware of what’s going on,” Ackerman said at a Capitol news conference Tuesday.

Now, Ackerman said, “It’s time for the law to catch up with the advances in technology that make this type of crime possible.

“These voyeurs can post pictures of your wife and daughter on the Internet and people will pay to see under their clothes,” said Ackerman, who has one grown daughter.

Ackerman, a low-profile former mayor of Fullerton, used a small bag, held low to the ground by a long shoulder strap and capable of accommodating a tiny camera, to show how easily a video stalker can approach a woman without appearing suspicious. He also distributed to reporters samples of censored versions of “upskirt” photos posted on the Internet.

The lawmaker has lined up support for his bill (AB 182) from law enforcement groups.

“We have these individuals who for their own personal sexual gratification are rigging up these cameras . . . in such a way as to view women’s undergarments or sexual parts,” said Det. Sgt. Bob Conklin of the Anaheim Police Department.

In June, Conklin investigated an incident at Disneyland in which a man spent hours sneaking videotape of women. But Conklin and other police are frustrated because, they say, nothing on the books makes the practice illegal.

Now, Ackerman is trying to toughen the law.

On Tuesday, his measure cleared its first legislative hurdle when the Assembly Public Safety Committee approved the proposal 6-0 and sent it to the Appropriations Committee.

At issue is whether the state should extend laws designed to thwart--and, failing that, to punish--”peeping Toms” to apply to people armed with hidden video cameras in public places.

Now, it is a misdemeanor to look or film through an opening in bathrooms, department store changing rooms and other places where people expect privacy.

Likewise, Ackerman’s legislation would make it a misdemeanor to use a concealed camera or other recording device to secretly photograph another person with the intent to invade their privacy.

Ackerman said he became alarmed about the phenomenon because of several publicized incidents at public places in Orange County, like the Disneyland occurrence. But he said prosecutors failed to win cases under disorderly conduct laws.

Video stalking incidents have been reported in the Washington, D.C., area, and a Virginia state law bans videotaping, other photographing or filming “nonconsenting” people undressing or wearing undergarments.

At the end of the 1998 legislative session, Sen. Dede Alpert (D-Coronado) inserted a ban on video voyeurs in legislation, but civil libertarians objected that it was too broad and could hamper legitimate news gathering. Alpert’s bill did not receive a hearing.

Ackerman has narrowed his proposal so it won’t apply to journalists.

A spokesman for an “upskirt” Internet site owner said Tuesday: “All we’re doing is publishing them on the Internet, giving people what they want.

“People are intrigued to look at what they’re not supposed to,” said Andrew Drake, an executive with the Irvine company, which he declined to name.