It's disgusting, the state Supreme Court opined.
It's reprehensible, the court added for good measure.
But it is not a crime to secretly take pictures up women's skirts in public places, according to the high-court opinion handed down yesterday.
The opinion came in response to appeals by two men who challenged the state's voyeurism law.
The men were caught in 1999 and 2000 crouching where they shouldn't — one at a Union Gap mall in the Yakima Valley and the other at The Bite of Seattle at Seattle Center.
"Although (their) actions are reprehensible, we agree that the voyeurism statute, as written, does not prohibit upskirt photography in a public place," Justice Bobbe Bridge, one of four women on the state Supreme Court, wrote in the unanimous opinion.
So-called "upskirt cams," sometimes called "upskirt photos" or "upskirt voyeur pictures," are a hot commodity in the world of Internet pornography. For now, Peeping Toms operating in public places can avoid criminal prosecution. "If you get caught doing that, what's the natural reaction?" Ramm asks. "You just may risk getting beat up."
By Maureen O'Hagan,
Seattle Times staff reporter