Upskirting soon to be illegal in Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, upskirting is currently legal because of a case where a man sucessfully got his voyeurism case dropped because courts said that a woman did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy from Peeping Toms. Videotaping kids is illegal.

In the criminal case, a 34-year-old man was arrested in 2006 for placing a camera underneath the girl's skirt at a Tulsa store and taking photographs. He was charged under a "Peeping Tom" statute that requires the victim to be "in a place where there is a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy."

A Tulsa County judge dismissed the charge in January 2007 after ruling that "the person photographed was not in a place where she had a reasonable expectation of privacy." The decision was upheld this week by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Appellate court Judge Gary Lumpkin dissented from the court's 4-1 decision, writing that "what this decision does is state to women who desire to wear dresses that there is no expectation of privacy as to what they have covered with their dress." "In other words, it is open season for peeping Toms in public places who want to look under a woman's dress," Lumpkin wrote.

State representative Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, has written a bill which makes it a misdemeanor to video tape a person's private areas,"regardless of whether the person is in a public or private place." Penalties range up to a year in jail and a $5000 fine.

In Illinois, videotaping of both kids and adults was made a felony as of January 1st, and a Chicago Tribune report dated December 26, 2007 showed that damage to victims from the videotaping and distribution on the Internet was widespread.

For those who are interested, the Oklahoma bill to outlaw peeping with cameras is HB 2606. Unfortunately, unlike other states, the maximum penalty is a misdemeanor.