Upskirt Photos Legal in Massachusetts As Long As Subject Isn’t Partially Nude, Court Rules

Taking upskirt photos of women in public
is not a crime in Massachusetts, according to the state’s
Supreme Judicial Court (SJC). In a ruling Wednesday, the SJC sided
with defendant Michael Robertson, who was charged in 2010 for
taking upskirt photos of two women on Boston’s Green Line
train. 

But the Massachusetts law used to charge Robertson was
inapplicable, the court said, because the women he photographed
were fully clothed. As the law is written, it applies only to
people in private or people who are fully or partially
nude in public. From the court’s decision: 

“We conclude that (the law), as written … is concerned with
proscribing Peeping Tom voyeurism of people who are completely or
partially undressed and, in particular, such voyeurism enhanced by
electronic devices. (The law) does not apply to photographing (or
videotaping or electronically surveilling) persons who are fully
clothed and, in particular, does not reach the type of upskirting
that the defendant is charged with attempting to accomplish on the
MBTA.” 

Lawyers for Massachusetts had argued that women riding public
transit have a reasonable expectation of privacy in not having a
stranger secretly photograph up their skirts. “The proposition is
eminently reasonable, but (the law) in its current form does not
address it,” the court concluded.