Stateline / By Chantelle Al-Khouri, ABC
The sunglasses, which have a lens in the outer corner, are believed to be a readily available model from a popular eyewear brand. Photo: ABC News / Jak Rowland
- An American content creator has uploaded videos of women he secretly filmed in Sydney's east via a camera lens on his sunglasses.
- One of the women recorded said the social media video was made without her knowledge, and that she felt harassed.
- NSW Police is aware of the incidents, with a law expert calling for laws to further protect privacy.
When Amy was approached by a random man on the street, she never imagined she was secretly being filmed through his sunglasses.
What started out as an "innocent enough" interaction while walking her dog in Sydney's inner east would quickly become uncomfortable.
Amy - whose name has been changed for this story - said the man repeatedly asked her to take him on a date and became "quite forceful" when she declined or tried to change the conversation.
"Literally all he wanted to do was for me to take him out. I actually just gave him my number, just to get away from him, because there was no way he was letting me go without my number," Amy said.
A week after the interaction at Kings Cross, she found out the conversation was secretly filmed when she was sent the video by multiple people, including neighbours in her apartment building.
"[The interaction] was absolutely, very uncomfortable but what followed next is just so soul-destroying," Amy said.
The man was wearing sunglasses with a lens in the outer corner of the frame believed to be a brand readily available for a few hundred dollars.
She would later discover the man was an American content creator who had more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram.
He often posts his conversations with women in public, including at Bondi Beach during his visit to Sydney.
Amy said what made the situation worse were the "horrific comments" from his followers.
"It's all so violating and disgusting … I didn't even realise that I was getting filmed, let alone Joe Bloggs down the road saying how ugly I am, or how fat I am."
A difficult reporting process
After reporting the video for harassment to Instagram under its Community Standards policy, Amy said Instagram kept the video up and the creator did not respond to her messages asking for it to be taken down.
The content creator did not respond to questions from the ABC and has since left Australia.
Meta, the owner of Instagram, has also been contacted for comment.
Amy said she was motivated to speak up after seeing media reports and multiple women online talking about their interactions with the same man when he was in Sydney.
When she took the matter to Kings Cross Police Station, she was allegedly told police were aware of the man but there was nothing they could do.
"It's almost like we're stuck in the ice age," Amy said.
NSW Police told the ABC they were aware of the incidents and following "an investigation into an alleged breach of the Listening Devices Act, there will be no further police action".
Possible breach of the law
Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney Law School, Barbara McDonald, said it seemed the man was in breach of the Surveillance Devices Act, which prohibits individuals from using a listening device, like the sunglasses, to record a private conversation without consent.
The Surveillance Devices Act repealed the former Listening Devices Act in NSW.
"There's no law against taking a photograph in public at the moment … but listening devices don't depend on it being in public, it depends on it being a private conversation," McDonald said.
McDonald said if the images were then used to harass, intimidate or threaten, the individual would be in breach of federal laws.
"What is difficult is when the person … is out of the country," she said.
"They might be in breach of Australian laws, but it may be very difficult … for them to be prosecuted."
Calls for laws to adapt to changes in technology
McDonald said laws around privacy needed to be more consistent nationally and that Australia needed to play catch up.
"It's a very complex area and it's a murky distinction between photographs of people in private context and photographs of people in public context," she said.
"There's a problem there with our laws not keeping up with what's happening out in the world. We need to have more technology-neutral prohibitions."
In June this year, individuals will be able to take legal action against organisations or individuals for serious invasions of privacy under new federal laws, including misuse of personal information if certain conditions are met.
McDonald said it could be a game changer, but it will take time to understand how the law is applied.
"I think it'd be hard to say there's a reasonable expectation of privacy for most activities that occur in public, but it's certainly not impossible."
McDonald also said that while there were currently various regulatory methods, including the eSafety Commissioner, they often had "doubtful capacity" to control what's allowed on social media.
'Just because you can, doesn't mean you should'
In a statement, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it's important to "continue reinforcing the importance of consent, respect and empathy".
"When it comes to filming someone in public - especially on the beach - just because you can, doesn't mean you should. It's important to seek consent when using another person's image online.
"Behind each of these images is a person who may be feeling violated."
Amy said that learning there would be no justice for her and the other women was disheartening, and she hoped change was on the horizon.
"The way that men treat women in this country at the moment is just unbelievable, and this is just a prime example of men degrading or disrespecting women," she said.
- ABC
