Non-Consensual Content Recorded in Public Called ‘Porn’ by Media, University

Oregon State University (OSU) has issued an alert to students and faculty after secretly filmed videos of women walking around campus were discovered on a porn site.

The exact site on which these videos appear was not disclosed in news reports, however, according to the university’s department of public safety, more than fifty have been found. The videos are shot from behind and in such a way that victims are not recognizable. All of the videos appear to have been recorded within the past few weeks.

In addition to the dirtbag nature of these videos, a news story on KOIN.com — reported from the campus proper and shared below — conveyed shock that they “may not be against the law.”

Legality was discussed by William Funk, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School who weighed in on the issue. According to Funk, because the videos in question do not include anything identifying the people being filmed and no money is being made from the content, this is an ethics issue — rather than a legal one. The fact that the campus, where people are walking and where this person is filming, is public property is also a factor.

The university posted the following notice on Facebook: 

Oregon State University Corvallis campus students and community members are advised to be aware of a person walking a silver blue mountain bike and appearing to use a cell phone to record images of people walking. OSU’s Department of Public Safety was notified today by two members of the university community that numerous videos recorded of women walking on campus have been loaded on an internet porn site. The videos number more than 50, are dated to have been recorded over the past few weeks, and are all of subjects photographed from behind. There are no recognizable face images or names associated with the videos. Members of the campus community are urged to be aware of their surroundings and immediately report any sightings of an individual appearing to take unsolicited videos of people walking on campus or a person following others walking a silver blue mountain bike with a phone in hand. Please call the OSU Department of Public Safety non-emergency line at 541-737-3010 with any information related to this matter.

None of this really matters though as students are still creeped out by the creation of non-consensual content as they walk to and from class. Also, none of these factors stop people from referring to this unethical content creation as porn.

Image by Buro Millennial from Pexels.