I spy a new problem with hidden cameras.

You’re in a changing room, standing half naked about to try on a new shirt only to see a small black unfamiliar object hidden in the handle of the changing room door. Paranoia sets in, that maybe, someone has been watching you through the tiniest of cameras. You wonder who is watching, how long have they been watching and how much they have seen. You no longer feel safe. It seems like a new survival skill for the 21^st century has surfaced – that is, the ability to spot a hidden camera in a public toilet, a changing room or even in a hotel room. These cameras can be hidden in everyday objects, unnoticeable unless you know what you’re looking for or it can be in the form of someone filming you without your consent or knowledge in a place where privacy should be guaranteed. With the increasing prevalence of hidden cameras and phone cameras, there is a growing number of people who are taking extra precautions to protect their safety and privacy. 

In South Korea, the number of spycam crimes reported to the police has spiked from 2400 in 2012 to around 6500 in 2017. “My life is not your porn” was the slogan of the biggest women’s right demonstration in South Korea where women decided to speak out against hidden camera crimes in 2018. This movement began when a South Korean woman fell victim to this crime when she found out that she was secretly being filmed in the privacy of her own home. The police showed her pictures on pictures of her naked, going about her day in her home. These pictures found to be taken by a man who had been filming her from a building around 300 meters away.

It seems that governments are not taking this problem seriously and there is a lack of precautionary as well as disciplinary action against such crimes. With the case of the South Korean woman, the perpetrator was released, making it seem as though the law enforcement do not comprehend the seriously of invading one’s privacy. Here’s what the
South Korean victim had to say:

“The way the policemen described the incident almost gaslighted me into thinking it wasn’t a serious problem.”

This is also a growing issue in Singapore with the number of voyeurism cases involving hidden cameras increased from 150 to 230 cases in 2017. A victim of such crime, Monica Baey, a student at Singapore’s National University of Singapore was recently in the limelight due to her courage to speak up against her perpetrator and the lack of legal action taken against him. She was filmed by a fellow university student in the toilets of her student hostel earlier this year. To her shock, the perpetrator was only given a suspension for one semester and a 12 – month conditional warning. This led her to take to social media, asking for a “real change” to occur for how authorities handle such crimes. This was met with a large amount of support with many people agreeing that harsher punishments need to be rolled out by the police and schools against such incidents which have been on the rise over the past few years.

“A lot of victims are silent. They let it slide or did not pursue the matter.” – Monica Baey

These crimes leave victims feeling vulnerable regardless of where they are, whether it be in trains or the privacy of one’s home. Elisabeth, a student at the National University of Singapore says that she “does not want to go to the toilet alone anymore” due to the fear of being filmed.

Another possible reason why such crimes are on the rise is the increased accessibility to such cameras. Not only is the prevalence of smartphones with high quality cameras making such discreet recording easier, spy cameras and such equipment are a lot easier to obtain than one would think. Spy cameras can be bought from popular online retailers for as little as S$20. On popular site Lazada, the sale of hidden cameras grew 1.5x in 2017 as compared to 2016. In fact, in Singapore, there is no restriction on buying such cameras.

Amid increased media attention and hence calls for countermeasures, governments seem to be taking more serious steps towards curbing and punishing such behavior. For Singapore, The Criminal Law Reform Bill was brought up in February, aiming to criminalise the production, possession and distribution of voyeuristic recordings. With the case of Monica Baey, the National university of Singapore has admitted that their current disciplinary system is inadequate and they are in the midst of forming a review committee to make concrete changes to the existing system. In South Korea, such protest are only growing in popularity, with more and more women banding together to create a dialogue around such issues of sexual violence and misogyny, hoping to push the government to reform sex-crime legislation. Small steps have been taken, with the formation of South Korea’s first spy cam inspection team in 2016, who regularly inspect places vulnerable to such crimes. Just this week, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will be expanding its hidden camera inspection areas.

“The city will implement a regular inspection system to eradicate illegal filming, hoping that more people become aware that these areas will remain as the ‘hidden cam-free zone,” – Yoon Hee-cheon, director of Women’s Policy Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

The paranoia and fear of the victims will never go away, but it seems like there is a slow push towards giving them their sense of security again. Only time will tell if these measures make a legitimate change and will be a step in the right direction in the fight for privacy.