Photo: Rex Wholster/Shutterstock

Seoul Bathrooms to Be Checked Daily for Hidden Spy Cameras

News
by Eben Diskin Sep 4, 2018

All over South Korea, small, hidden cameras in bathrooms are recording women doing their business — and the recordings almost always to end up on pornographic sites.

The installation of hidden cameras in bathrooms has become so rampant in Seoul that the city has pledged to conduct daily inspections of its 20,554 public toilets. Last year, more than 6,000 cases of “spy cam porn” were reported. The New York Times declares that “more than 30,000 cases of surreptitious filming have been reported nationally since 2013.”

Earlier this year, women in Seoul marched in protest against the hidden camera trend, holding signs with messages like, “My life is not your porn.” About 80 percent of spy cam victims are women, and according to activists, women are living in constant fear of being photographed or filmed without their consent.

Catching offenders is more difficult than it may sound, however. Cameras can be installed and removed within 15 minutes, with the damage already done. Prosecuting spy camera criminals isn’t easy, either. Of the 5,400 people arrested for spy camera related crimes last year, less than two percent were actually jailed. Many women are now calling for harsher punishments for perpetrators.

H/T: BBC News

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