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11/05/2008
The blob video hits the half-a-million mark.
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10/03/2008
The prosperity gospel and foreclosures.
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09/03/2008
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Latest Photos
There was recently a case here in Texas where a man stood outside of the entrance to Six Flags and was taking pictures of women as they walked passed him. It turns out he was taking pictures of their asses…not up their skirts or anything like that. Just their clothed badonkadonk’s. He was arrested and taken away.
This came up as a topic of conversation not too long ago with a friend of ours and he just sent us an article of a man in Maryland who got caught filming the buttocks of female swimmers at a swim meet. He was fined over $400 plus court costs.
Sarah and I kind of got into it the other day discussing this. She thought the men should have been arrested. I thought the men had every right to take pictures in a public setting, including girls asses that everyone can already see.
Where do you draw the line? Can I take a picture of someone in public as long as I don’t zero in on their ass? But then, really what’s the difference in the first place? There’s always intentions, but now we are stepping into the realm of thought police.
Maybe my friend Martin McReynolds can shine a little bit of lawyer light on the issue…is there a law on the books stating you can’t zoom in on an ass in public? What about news stations? I’ve seen several news stories on obesity where the camera crew zooms in on an obese butt walking down the street.
To me, this is getting close to obstructing freedom. What do you think?
martin says...
Jun 29, 12:14 PM
after i read this blog entry, i quickly strolled over to my bookshelf and removed my “legal hornbook on zoom photography of women’s badonkadonk’s” to investigate. as i assumed, the law can be summed up by reference to the “dirty strike zone”. similar to the strike zone in base ball, any photographs that focus exclusively on the “dirty strike zone” are deviant and prohibited. off to jail with you, pervert. clearly, the smart peeping tom with simply buy a camera with a super high resolution, take a full body photograph and then later crop down to the “dirty strike zone”.
seriously, photographers generally have the constitutional right to take pictures in public places (of people, buildings, etc.). post-911 has increased harrassment of photgs, but they just need to stand firm.
voyeurism is another story. several states and the federal gov now have laws on the book prohibiting taking pictures in public places for sexual gratification. i forsee a constitutional fight on these laws because they restrict a civil right. as inappropriate as it is, taking those zoom pictures in a public place is protected and the state must demonstrate its interest in restraining the conduct.
anyway, here’s the texas law FYI:
ยง 21.15. IMPROPER PHOTOGRAPHY OR VISUAL RECORDING. (a) In this section, “promote” has the meaning assigned by Section 43.21.
(A) without the other person’s consent; and(b) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) photographs or by videotape or other electronic means visually records another:
(B) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person; or
(2) knowing the character and content of the photograph or recording, promotes a photograph or visual recording described by Subdivision (1).
(c) An offense under this section is a state jail felony.
(d) If conduct that constitutes an offense under this section also constitutes an offense under any other law, the actor may be prosecuted under this section or the other law.
matt, i’ll let you be the judge of what “with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual
desire of any person” means, but i wouldn’t want to be the prosecutor trying to prove it!
Brian says...
Jun 29, 01:50 PM
It does seem like a pretty tricky thing to deal with. Agreed, it’s probably illegal due to 1B mentioned above. And it also seems like it would be tough to prove arousal/desire. And it seems like you could get pretty overly-technical on either end of this argument. For instance, if it’s legal to photograph any public thing, is it legal to go under the bleachers at a college football game and shoot photos underneath ladies’ skirts? Technically it’s in the public….. but man it’s also creepy.
Matt says...
Jun 29, 02:57 PM
Thats why Abbie will never be allowed to wear a skirt. Just Kidding. But Sarah actually brought Abbie up when defending her viewpoint.
Speaking of bleachers, we went on a cruise once and Sarah was going up these stairs that were like bleachers. She noticed these young boys underneath the stairs looking up through to get glimpses. She promptly spilled her coke on them.