Georgia Senate moves to ban ‘upskirt’ photography

By a vote of 49-0, the Georgia Senate said loud and clear that sneaking photos under peoples’ clothes should be a crime in the state.

Georgia code doesn’t specifically state that this “egregious and reprehensible” behavior is illegal in a public place, said state Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry, author of Senate Bill 45.

“I think the general public was pretty shocked that it wasn’t already against the law,” Walker said on the state Senate floor.

He said his bill updates decades-old laws in light of modern technology.

Sneaking photos under a person’s clothes is now a common enough crime that it’s got a name: “upskirting.”

Walker filed his bill after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled last year in a Houston County case that such creepy photography is not technically illegal. Brandon Lee Gary was convicted of invasion of privacy for sneaking videos up a woman’s skirt at the Perry Parkway Publix in 2013. The court reversed his conviction.

“Initially he (Gary) acted like he was bending down to tie his shoe,” Walker said.

A similar bill, House Bill 9, by state Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, is working its way through the state House.

This story was originally published February 15, 2017 at 12:02 PM with the headline "Georgia Senate moves to ban ‘upskirt’ photography."