Man Arrested for Secretly Recording Woman, Demanding Money to Delete Video
▼ Summary
– A man used smart glasses to secretly film a woman entering a London shopping center, then demanded money to remove the video he uploaded online.
– The woman, identified as Alice, was unaware she was being filmed until a friend sent her the video, which had about 40,000 views.
– The incident highlights privacy concerns with smart glasses, as their ordinary appearance allows covert filming without consent, often with no legal recourse.
– When Alice asked the man to remove the video, he offered removal as a paid service, claiming his video complied with the law.
– TikTok banned the man’s account for violating harassment rules, but he re-posted the video on another site; police could not investigate due to limited information.
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A man has been arrested after he secretly recorded a woman using smart glasses, then demanded payment to delete the footage he posted online. The victim, identified only as Alice by the BBC, had no idea she was being filmed when he first approached her as she walked into a London shopping center.
“In the moment I just thought ‘OK this guy is just trying to talk to me, to chat me up,’” she recalled. “I was hoping that he would leave me alone eventually but he did actually follow me.” Alice only discovered the truth when a friend alerted her to a video that had already amassed about 40,000 views. “My initial reaction was complete shock,” she said. “He had no phone, he did not have a camera directly in my face.”
This incident starkly illustrates the privacy and safety risks critics have long warned about with smart glasses. Because they resemble ordinary sunglasses, they can be easily misused to film people, particularly women, without their knowledge or consent. Often, there is little legal recourse. Earlier this year, another UK woman found herself in a viral video with over a million views, filmed by a man’s smart glasses. Distressed by comments that berated and sexualized her, she reported it to police, who said filming in public wasn’t illegal.
Alice’s ordeal was equally disturbing. When she contacted the man’s account to request the video’s removal, he replied that his content “fully complies with the law” and that he wasn’t “required to take it down.” In an email obtained by the BBC, he added, “That said, I understand that sometimes people may still prefer for certain content to be removed. In such cases, I usually offer the option of removal as a paid service, since it means taking down content that I’ve invested time, effort, and resources into creating.”
Alice refused to pay. “It made me feel exploited, powerless,” she said. She reported the incident to the police, but the Metropolitan Police told the BBC that “officers were unable to progress the investigation due to limited information.” After TikTok removed the man’s video, he reposted it on another platform. TikTok has since banned his account for violating its rules against bullying and harassment. Meta removed a video of Alice he reposted, and his YouTube account is now inactive.
“He’s got the file, which still makes me feel uneasy, still constantly having to check back and see if he is uploading the video again. I just feel powerless,” Alice told the BBC. “If you don’t consent to content being out there of yourself, it can actually be very dangerous. It’s just a complete breach of privacy and data.” According to the report, Alice is not the only victim. Another woman also contacted the same man to request removal of content featuring her.
More on privacy: Meta Had the Worst Possible Response When Its Workers Were Watching Naked Footage of Its Ray-Ban AI Glasses Users
(Source: Futurism)
