Prosecutors are calling for changes to the law after a Massachusetts high court ruled Mar. 5 that secretly taking photographs under a woman’s skirt is legal.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the practice of “upskirting” is legal because current laws prohibit only photographs that display women as nude or partially nude.
If a woman is wearing a dress or a skirt, she is not considered partially nude under Massachusetts’ law. The court also ruled that the fact that the woman may be partially naked underneath the skirt is not relevant under the current law.
CNN reports that the CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin stated the law has not caught up to technology and is an assault to a woman’s right to privacy.
The court was hearing an appeal of a lower court ruling that found Michael Robertson guilty of violating the “Peeping Tom” law when he used his cell phone in 2010 to take photographs and record videos up the skirts and dresses of women on public transportation.
Prosecutors argued that the current statute in Massachusetts prohibits secretly taking photographs and recording video of a person who is nude or partially nude, which should include “up skirting.”
