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A move to ban videos that invade privacy
Bill follows attempt to tape cheerleaders
Tuesday, March 2, 1999
By THOMAS SHAPLEY
OLYMPIA -- When a Kingdome electrician was caught trying to videotape Seahawk cheerleaders in their locker room in 1997, the prosecution was limited because under current state law it is not illegal to secretly videotape someone -- even in a dressing room.
Rep. Dow Constantine, D-Seattle, has introduced a bill in the Legislature that would make it a crime to make a visual recording of anyone "who has a reasonable expectation of privacy."
House Bill 2220 is scheduled for a hearing and possible vote in the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee today, the cutoff for many bills to be passed out of committee.
In September 1997, a video camera was found hidden in a light fixture in the ceiling of the cheerleaders' locker room. A Kingdome employee, Randal Jay Palmer, was accused of placing the camera there with the intent of recording the women as they dressed. He was fired.
Palmer only managed to capture himself on tape. Not realizing the camera was recording at the time, he taped himself looking up at and checking the camera setup. He then apparently pushed a button on the remote that, instead of beginning the taping, ejected the tape.
Palmer was convicted of criminal trespass on March 13, 1998, by a Seattle District Court jury. But pro tem Judge Debra Hannula overturned the conviction after finding that the prosecutor, during closing arguments, referred inappropriately to Palmer's decision not to testify in the trial.
"We're trying to address filming or videotaping a person who is in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy -- their home, a restroom, a hotel room," Constantine said. "Why have a prohibition against audiotaping if the same provisions don't exist for videotaping?"
The ban would not apply in areas where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy -- a bank lobby, a parking garage, or among the crowd at a sports event at the Kingdome.
Some concerns have been raised by television news media that the bill could restrict their ability to gather information, Constantine said.
There may be legitimate security reasons for video surveillance in some otherwise private situations, Constantine said, but in those cases there should be notification of the surveillance. The bill would require such notification.
"People need to know when they're being watched," he said. "We had the same issues long ago in telephone calls. When do we have a reasonable expectation of privacy?"
P-I reporter Thomas Shapley can be reached at 360-943-3990 or thomasshapley@seattle-pi.com
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