This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on September 23, 2002). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.
Well, here’s something handy just in case I decide to take my photography in a new direction — in public areas, peeking up skirts is completely legal.
The state’s voyeurism law protects people who are in a place where they “would have a reasonable expectation of privacy” — meaning the person could expect to be able to undress in seclusion or “be safe from hostile intrusion or surveillance.”
But the court found the law doesn’t apply to filming people in a public place, even if it’s underneath their clothes.
“It is the physical location of the person that is ultimately at issue, not the part of the person’s body,” Judge Bobbe Bridge wrote.
Laws are funny things, sometimes, both with what they cover and what they don’t.