Peeping Tom's secret weapon
The rapid growth of camera phones has had a sinister side effect - men taking sneaky snaps up the skirts of unsuspecting women. And, Hugh Wilson discovers, they are then pored over by a global audience of voyeurs
It's impossible to put an exact figure on it, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to suggest that tens of thousands of women are unknowingly appearing on pornographic websites.
... But the real kudos is still reserved for those men who risk public humiliation and (occasionally) criminal prosecution to get the real money shots - pictures that literally go "up skirt" or "down blouse", or are surreptitiously taken under the doors of lavatory cubicles, or in a public shower.
...That fear has prompted drastic measures around the world. Saudi Arabia and Jeddah, for instance, have banned camera phones altogether. In Korea, manufacturers are being forced to design camera phones that beep when pictures are taken. In parts of Britain, Australia, Norway, America, Germany and Switzerland, the phones have been banned fromswimming-pools, schools, gyms, parks and beaches.
...Diana Russell, author of Against Pornography: The Evidence of Harm, agrees that technology is fuelling the creation of voyeuristic material, and points out that clandestine pictures of women will be circulating on the internet for years to come, with the potential to ruin relationships and careers.
