It’s Officially Illegal To Videotape Nude Prostitutes Without Consent

I often forget how little common sense applies to many of the fine citizen of this country. Case in point, there was actually a lawsuit that went to an appellate court, who finally ruled that just because you're paying a prostitute to have sex with you, that she automatically consents to have video or pictures taken of her. 

According to XBIZ (link below), the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruled—unanimously—that a man by the name of Charles Adams did in fact violate a woman's "expectation of privacy and affirmed his conviction that prohibits 'capturing representations' that depict nudity without consent."

Adams apparently made it a habit to videotape his subject prostitutes, and at least one of the women captured surreptitiously with a laptop computer said she didn’t consent to it.

Acting on a tip, police obtained a search warrant for Adams’s truck, and found numerous sex videos of Adams with prostitutes.

But Adams said he had a legitimate reason for videotaping the encounter — to protect himself if something bad happened.  

Adams maintained that he was justified in videotaping the woman without her consent because she was a prostitute and might, during their illegal sexual encounter, overdose on illegal drugs or accuse him of battery.

He moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the woman who was recorded nude while engaging in the illegal act of prostitution had no reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to being videotaped in the nude during commercial sexual activity.

On appeal, he argued that the circuit court erred in denying his motion to dismiss.

The appeals court panel disagreed, ruling that just because Adams and the woman were engaged in the crime of prostitution does not mean that the woman relinquished her reasonable expectation of privacy.

I have to say, I am impressed that her right to privacy trumped the illegality of what all went down. That is a refreshing bit of news. Good on ya, Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

Via XBIZ