Bill targets video pirates, secret taping

Video pirates, beware. A bill designed to crack down on people who record movies in a movie theater, or who secretly videotape people as they undress in bathrooms, showers, or locker rooms, is awaiting Governor Mitt Romney's signature.

The bill's backers say it will combat film piracy while extending rights to people who wrongly assume their privacy is protected as they dress or undress in private locations. The bill specifically bans secret videotaping of people who are nude or partially nude and who have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The bill also bars the distribution of those images. Violators face up to 2 years in jail or a $10,000 fine.

''We know of cases where landlords have put cameras in bathrooms and bedrooms, and the courts have made the police give back the tapes," said Don Siriani, spokesman for state Senator Susan C. Fargo, a Lincoln Democrat who sponsored part of the bill. ''There are literally thousands of websites that market nothing but images of women undressed."

Current wiretapping laws bar the secret recording of conversations but do not apply to images. The bill makes exceptions for changing rooms for customers, provided a store warns customers they may be videotaped.

The ''anticamcorder" portion of the bill is designed to fight the growing global market in pirated films. The bill is the brainchild of the Motion Picture Association of America, which is pushing similar legislation state by state in the hopes of attacking the piracy problem at its roots.

A pirated copy of a movie screened on an opening day can be sent via the Internet overseas, where it can be quickly mass-produced on DVDs and sold cheaply, said association spokesman Rich Taylor. ''A single camcorded film can cause a significant amount of damage and can be copied exponentially," he said.