On ADS-L yesterday, Joel Berson relayed this story on upskirting (secretly photographing under a person’s clothing; the person is almost always a woman) from the Boston Globe:
Which the highest state court in Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court — the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in America — has just ruled is not illegal. The activity as well as the word should go viral.
The decision is that “a state law intended to prohibit ‘Peeping Tom’ voyeurism of completely or partially undressed people did not apply to people who take pictures of people who are fully clothed.”
(Yes, upskirting is a Prt + PRP compound; and there’s now a base and finite verb upskirt as well (of course).)
Berson commented:
It’s not clear to me whether the prosecutors blundered in choosing to bring charges under the “Peeing Tom” law when there might have been some other grounds.
To which Victor Steinbok wondered:
Peeing Tom? Did this happen on pubic transportation?
Indeed.
