‘Upskirting’ ban is a step closer to law

Bill arrives for governor to sign to make the lewd action a crime.

It took until the final hours of the legislative session, but a measure did pass that would ban “upskirting” and make it illegal to surreptitiously take a video of a person’s private parts in a public place in Georgia.

Senate Bill 104 is now on Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk for his signature after lawmakers negotiated as late as Thursday evening over both the upskirting ban and numerous pieces of other legislation now included in the bill. Those measures include increasing penalties for carjacking, expanding the state’s annual drug update and posting of human trafficking hotlines in government buildings.

The final vote to pass SB 104 in the state Senate came just before the chamber adjourned for the year. Lawmakers were relieved to be a crucial step closer to finally curtailing a lewd practice many did not know wasn’t already illegal.

The state Court of Appeals found last year that there was no specific law in Georgia that banned upskirting and that decades-old laws being used to prosecute such cases simply did not envision criminal acts committed with modern technology.

The court’s decision overturned an invasion-of-privacy conviction against former grocery clerk Brandon Lee Gary. Gary had used his cellphone in 2013 to take videos from under a woman’s skirt as she shopped at a grocery store in Houston County.

As passed, SB 104 would make upskirting a felony, with those convicted of the crime facing up to five years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.

Ex-grocery clerk Brandon Lee Gary took video up a female shopper’s dress in 2013.