In the digital age, voyeurism has become a serious problem among law enforcement officials and legislators. Although it may have been difficult in the past to gather enough evidence to show that a peeper was looking at someone without their consent, and it may not even have been illegal in certain jurisdictions, the widespread use of small-scale camera technology and sharing Digital information has complicated problems with this act. In certain areas, there are still few laws that describe voyeurism, let alone laws that address the digital sharing of voyeuristic endeavors. For other jurisdictions, the law is very simple in terms of its penalties.
Voyeurism has been recorded as a violation of privacy for centuries. However, with modern camera phone technology and the ability to instantly post images to the internet, effectively share them with the world, peepers have become much more serious problems for society. As a result of voyeuristic behaviors, people can have their reputations destroyed simply by taking a photo and posting it online.
Known as videovoyeurism, the act of photographing someone in an intimate moment without consent has become a problem for prosecutors. This illegal act, which occurs most often when men take photographs of women, can have permanent consequences. In particular, some jurisdictions in the United States provide criminal punishment as well as a publicly viewable sex offender registry registry.
In reality, preventing video voyeurism would require drastic, almost impossible standards that could easily violate basic freedoms. As a result, American authorities have chosen to make this crime significantly punishable and public, in hopes of scaring off would-be peepers rather than enacting prohibitive technology laws.
For more information on how illegal photography works in a criminal case, contact a sex crimes attorney.
