Georgia House votes to criminalize sneaky, creepy photography
The Georgia House has voted to make state law clear: It’s criminal to shoot photos or videos under someone’s clothes.
House Bill 9 is meant to “address a gap found in existing law,” said state Rep. Shaw Blackmon, R-Bonaire, as he presented his bill on the House floor Friday.
He was referring to a finding in a Houston County case last year. The Georgia Court of Appeals found that Brandon Lee Gary technically didn’t break the state’s privacy law when he sneaked photos under a shopper’s skirt at the Perry Parkway Publix in 2013. The court reversed Gary’s conviction on one count of invasion of privacy.
The kind of creepy photography addressed in the bill is generally known as “upskirting.”
Blackmon’s bill took less than five minutes to get House approval by a vote of 156-1.
The lawmaker said the bill criminalizes what he thinks everyone knows to be criminal behavior.
The state Senate has approved a similar bill, Senate Bill 45 by state Sen. Larry Walker III, R-Perry.
Maggie Lee: @maggie_a_lee
This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Georgia House votes to criminalize sneaky, creepy photography."