SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The Saratoga Springs Police Department (SSPD) has released an advisory making people, specifically women in the area, aware of a report filed regarding unwanted or unconsented filming and photography. The SSPD says the filming/photography comes from a social media account.
NEWS10 spoke to a woman who said she was videotaped as a teenager and has appeared on that social media account decades later.
“Who knows what else he’s done with those videos, or if they’ve been distributed or used elsewhere, or what other videos he even has,” said the woman who asked to remain anonymous.
The woman claims that more than 20 years ago, when she ran track for Saratoga High School, she was recorded without her consent. That video was posted to an Instagram account this past May. At this time we are not sharing the name of the account, as police say it is part of their investigation.
“My estimation is that video is from somewhere between 2001 and 2002, and then there is a video of my sister as well, and some other girls that ran on the team about anywhere between five to ten years later,” she said.
Saratoga Police have not released the name of the account or person posting the videos, but the woman said when she was in high school, there was a man known for recording her track team, but that the police couldn’t do anything except warn him to stop.
“Once you leave your house, you leave your right to privacy,” explained Leslie Silva, Partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC.
According to Silva, you can be recorded in public without your consent in New York State. Even though the ability to easily share those recordings online has changed since the early 2000s, the law has not.
“You [previously] were only exposed to the people that you ran into that day, and now, your exposure is a much larger audience. So perhaps people will rethink defining the right to privacy, and maybe New York won’t be a one-party consent state in the future, but as of right now ,the laws have not changed due to the impact of social media,” Silva explained.
Saratoga Springs Police Department released a statement Tuesday afternoon that reads, in part:
The Investigations Division is currently investigating this report to
Lieutenant Paul Veitch
identify those that have been photographed or videotaped to determine if any crime has occurred.
As the investigation is continuing, no information will be divulged until the conclusion of this
case. If anyone has determined that, they are in fact on a social media website regarding this
case please contact the Saratoga Springs Police Department at 518-584-1800 to assist in the
investigation.
