For the past few years, there have been increasing numbers of incidents of video voyeurs secretly taping women and couples during very private moments in the bathroom and bedroom. Television newsmagazines have regularly broadcast reports of these invasions of privacy. They have also broadcast the fact that the perpetrators are usually not prosecuted since state laws do not recognize video voyeurism as a crime. But that's changing and, hopefully soon, all states will recognize in their law books the crime of video voyeurism.
Reporting in Newsday, Deepti Hajela writes that New York Gov. Pataki:
. . . signed into law a measure that makes video voyeurism _ secretly capturing images of another person in a private place like a bathroom or bedroom _ a felony that carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
Other states need to follow New York's lead.
One thing about this subject begs a question. I understand that most states have laws prohibiting peeping toms and, if they do, why can't those laws be applied to video voyeurs? Seems like pretty much the same thing to me.
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