Jail awaits cellphone peepers

People caught "peeping and peering" with cellphone cameras and computers could be jailed for up to three years under new laws to be introduced early next year, Justice Minister Phil Goff said yesterday.

The Intimate Covert Filming Bill would make the creating, publishing and possessing of voyeuristic recordings an offence punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

Based on recommendations by the Law Commission, the bill carries a maximum penalty for knowingly possessing any voyeuristic material of up to one year's imprisonment.

"Intimate covert filming is an increasing problem," Mr Goff said.

"It is a modern form of peeping and peering, aggravated by technology ... that makes it relatively easy to record and distribute widely what is observed."

There were currently no laws specifically prohibiting such behaviour, he said.

"This bill will make it an offence to surreptitiously film intimate situations involving nudity, or sexual, or other intimacy where people would have a reasonable expectation of privacy," Mr Goff said.

"Filming under people's clothing, or invading their privacy by covertly recording them in toilets, changing sheds or in their homes is totally unacceptable and must carry criminal sanctions, regardless of how explicit the images are."

International research had shown a correlation between voyeurism and sexual offending, he said.

The bill was consistent with US and British laws. Canada and New South Wales were considering similar legislation.

A Law Commission report in June recommended the bill not cover filming people in public or non-intimate circumstances - other than under their clothing - even if done for sexual gratification.

Filming children walking to school was not included, although existing offences may apply.

Being filmed nude or partly nude if it was somewhere privacy could not be expected, such as when topless sunbathing at a beach, was also not included.

- NZPA