Picturephoning.com notes that the US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a measure to to make it a crime to secretly photograph or videotape people, often for lascivious purposes.
AP reports:
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the issue of surreptitious videotaping has become "a huge privacy concern" with the miniaturization of technology and the proliferation of cell phone cameras.
On the surface, this, as Martha says, appears to be "a good thing," right? Everyone has a right to privacy. We should have the freedom to use a health club locker room without worrying if someone will come in and secretly shoot a less than flattering image and post it on the Internet. However, on the other hand, I wonder how broad this measure is. Could it slow citizen/participatory journalism? If the measure is strict, some might be afraid to shoot and moblog any image that might be possibly deemed "questionable" for fear they'll get busted. There's often a fine line between free speech and privacy. Hopefully this bill defines this very clearly.
