upskirt

A type of voyuer photograph or video that is taken of an unsuspecting woman or traditional Scotsman.

According to the Voyeurweb, it is done like this:

1. Hide a camera in a bag. Make sure that the bag is open enough for the lens to see out, but not open enough for the camera to be easily visible. A gym bag works well. If you are using a video camera, let it run. If you are using a still camera, you need some way to subtly activate it remotely.
2. Look for an attractive woman in a skirt that is shorter than knee-length. If she is with a boyfriend, it gives a greater risk, but also a greater thrill.
3. Casually position yourself behind her. If she is walking, you should probably let her go, unless you are on a street that is busy enough to justify walking close behind her. It is best if you are behind her on an escalator.
4. If she is standing, set the bag down just behind her legs for a second. If she is walking, tilt the bag so that the lens is pointing up her skirt.
5. Take the picture, then move the bag away. This should not take more than a second.
6. If you are caught, run like hell. Make sure you know about the laws in your state before you do this.

Upskirt shots are most commonly performed at the mall.

Someone once tried this on me a year or two back when I was daily wearing a kilt. She stuck a digital SLR on a stick under the kilt, aimed upward, and got slapped HARD. Then she called the police on me, for assault. She got arrested, although I never heard what happened after that. I gave a statement but as far as I know it never got to court. Had they been a man and I had been a woman it would have been different, but as it was the only repercussion for them was likely the bloody nose and a dropped SLR camera.

The interesting parallel to this for me is that I have been long thinking and writing about data privacy, and peeking at someone else's files feels to me like someone is attempting an upskirt pic. I get righteously indignant if someone tries it on me, and if someone is snooping at my stuff and I can reach them, they'll get equally slapped hard. But most of our files these days live on the cloud and we rarely if ever get to know if someone has their nose in our stuff.

It's the worst kind of invasion of privacy, poking about under someone's skirt without their knowledge or permission. I believe we have the right to retain the dignity of inviolable privacy under any circumstance, no matter what.

$ xclip -o | wc -w
232

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