The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court yesterday ruled that it is not illegal to take pictures of women in public who wear short skirts.  Well, sort of.  I guess the perverts aren’t exactly taking pictures of all of the women, just the skirts.  Or the parts under the skirts …

Anyway, here’s the thing that people aren’t getting about this decision.

When I did a search for “upskirt photographer” it didn’t quite give me anything safe for work. So here’s a picture of Massachusetts.

The court is not saying “This is a good thing” or “We approve of this practice.”  They merely pointed out that under the current law, it was not prohibited.  It was a loophole, if you will.

The law in question made it illegal to photograph people in “partial nudity” — and the court said, rightly, that the law did not apply in this instance, because no one on the subway was “partially nude.”  Further, you do not have a complete expectation of privacy on a subway.  (Existing Peeping Tom laws protect people from being photographed in dressing rooms and bathrooms when nude or partially nude, but the way the law is written, it does not protect clothed people in public areas.)

Anyway, the Massachusetts legislature has already snapped into action to update the law to include this, so it should be fixed soon.