Filming your neighbor having sex is legal
As long as you are not caught in the act it is legal to film your neighbours naked, or even having sex. That is the conclusion reached by prosecutor Bo Birgersson, who has just dropped the charges against a 20 year old man accused of filming 20 of his neighbours in various states of undress.
"It is not possible to be molested without one’s knowledge. And even if you find out after the act that somebody has been peeping at you it is not enough to bring about a conviction," Birgersson told Sydsvenskan.
In 2004 young woman in Malmö caught the filmmaker red-handed and alerted the police. But a failure to find any films featuring the woman in question meant that there was no concrete basis for the charge of molestation.
"That’s when I think I lost the case," said Birgersson.
Other neighbours first realised that they had been filmed naked when police found video footage in the man’s apartment.
In most cases they are captured in everyday situations, watching television or making dinner. But the man also filmed neighbours having sex.
"I find it objectionable that somebody can commit what one might call a virtual invasion of domestic privacy in this way," said professor of media law, Hans-Gunnar Axberger, who would like to see fresh legislation introduced to protect the victims.