Policeman Shares CCTV Footage Of A Naked Woman

Policeman Shares CCTV Footage Of A Naked Woman
Short Title Woman Takes Her Own Life After Policemen Share A Video Of Her
Location Ireland
Date 2017

Solove Harm Surveillance, Exposure, Increased Accessibility
Information Identifying, Behavioral, Physical Characteristics
Threat Actors Law Enforcement

Individuals
Affected A woman
High Risk Groups Journalist, Political Activist, Females
Tangible Harms Suicide, Anxiety, Embarrassment

A woman in Ireland took her own life after a policeman shared a video with his colleagues, showing a footage from a CCTV camera where she is walking naked down a street.

Description

Irish journalist, activist and blogger experienced a psychotic episode in 2017, and during that time CCTv footage filmed her walking down the street naked. Irish police force arrested her for that. Later a member of the police went to the CCTV control room, rewound the video to the segment, replayed is and recorded using his phone. He then shared it to a WhatsApp group which included other policemen. It then had spread and the video was viewed over 120 thousand times. When the woman became aware of the footage, she committed suicide. In August 2018, the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commiss (an independent statutory body in Ireland) confirmed that the person who is accused of originally recoding and sharing the video would not be charged with a crime.

Several privacy violations can be identified here.

Breakdown

Threat: CCTV cameras filming people on the streets
At-Risk group: People in public
Harm: Surveillance
Secondary Consequences: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Suicide

Threat: Policeman sharing a video of a naked woman on WhatsApp group with his colleagues
At-Risk group: A woman
Harm: Exposure
Secondary Consequences: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Suicide

Threat: Policemen spreading the video of a naked woman from a WhatsApp chat with thousands of their friends including posting on Facebook
At-Risk group: A woman
Harm: Increased Accessibility
Secondary Consequences: Anxiety, Embarrassment, Suicide

Laws and Regulations

Sources

https://twitter.com/aileendub/status/1329443706240458761
https://twitter.com/taragilsenan/status/1330297586352332805