A suit and a video camera

[Torchwatch]

A changing area is a private space, filming you in it is a breach of your privacy.
It is your choice to take intimate photos and videos of your own body should you choose to, but no one has the right to make or use such images without your permission.
Check whether cameras are permitted to be used in the pool area without permission of the operator, and complain anyway. This person will do it to someone else.
Your sexuality, or choice of swimwear is not an issue and you should not allow anyone to blackmail you into silence over it.

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

I agree. When I was swimming on the college team, at many meets we'd see the same dude show up with a really powerful zoom lens and take pictures. He frequently was not aiming at the action in the pool, but at random guys standing around the pool. He was not part of the media and no one was related to him. Now, it could have been perfectly innocent, but we all speculated that he was up to no good. However, we were in swimsuits, appropriately clothed for the context. Getting photographed at a swim meet is not out of the ordinary. Getting photographed when you are at a pool or beach without permission is inappropriate. Going into a locker or changing area to photo or video is crossing a big line. There is a huge difference between enjoying the look of a guy or gal in swimwear, and being a total pervert. If you see him again, I'd complain immediately. The scary thing is if he is that bold, where does he draw the line?

[sebbie]

Cameras are everywhere inside telephone, mini-pads etc. To asume that this can somehow be policed is so much wishful thinking.(ask Prince Harry about this). Anywhere you go where others see you could result in your photo being taken.

[Byron]

Well, you invited comments Sebbie and you got some.

Your observation of a harmless little fetish could be expressed in a couple of sentences but the extensive psychobabble and OTT generalisations which follow have unsurprisingly provoked some disagreement.

To expect, indeed demand, some private space around onesself - even in an otherwise public environment - is perfectly reasonable.
There wouldn't be any wishful thinking on my part if a guy in a public convenience leaned over me at a urinal with camera in hand - there would be a simple punch in the face (or, better still, pee in his cellphone to spoil his pleasure).

[shaulis]

People can expect to see cameras in public areas especially since the last couple of years but we shouldn't expect to have our privacy invaded at the pool, gym or anywhere for that matter. The violators can be charged and do some jail time.

[California Dolphin]

The legal issue can be simply stated as follows:

If a person is in a location where there's a "Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy", then secretely making audio or video recordings is strictly illegal.

Don't bring cameras or other recording devices into a locker room or any other location or you might wind up getting charged with invasion of privacy.

[Byron]

Precisely - and instead of an inappropriate allusion to Harry cavorting in Las Vegas we should take account of Kate when topless with Wills on the terrace of their house during their private holiday in the south of France.
The French Court rightly upheld the subsequent complaint against the paps, out again
with their telephoto lenses needless to say.

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Originally Posted by sebbie

Anywhere you go where others see you could result in your photo being taken.

Could versus should. Big difference.

[sebbie]

Of course, cameras that can take long-lens photos are getting extremely cheap and lightweight. As Megapixels increase, someone taking a general photo of a swim meet could easily blow up the section showing a guy in a Speedo to fill the frame and be sharp, and post the photo to the Internet. I seriously doubt that this could ever be deemed somehow illegal in any way shape or form any more than the celebrity photographers do anything illegal selling photos of celebs thdey have snapped long lens or not.

Unless you ban cameras entirely at pools and swim meets (which would be all but impossible to do unless you also banned devices containing cameras such as phones etc), I think a better strategy would be to simply assume that if you are in any place where others are around there is a possibility that your photo could be taken. I suspect some clothing retailers even have cameras in changing rooms as a method of identifying shoplifters, but they obviously are not going to make that public. Further, if you are uncomfortable being seen in a photo in a brief-style suit, why should you be any more comfortable just being seen by the public wearing the suit? This makes no sense to me at all.

Never mind the photography that goes on in and around the security areas at airports.

But, lets get back to the central theme of this thread which involves guys photographing themselves while enjoying themselves in their suits, and then posting the photos or movies.

Sebbie

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Sebbie, I think you missed the point. No one is saying photos at swim meets are wrong (re-read my earlier post more closely). No one is saying you should not be photographed in a swimsuit, although arguably it would be more courteous to ask first. Everyone, except you, is saying it is wrong to take pictures in a changing room or photo anyone changing. I don't mind a swimsuit picture, but naked in the process of changing is another issue.

STS