'Upskirting' Now Illegal in Massachusetts

"Upskirting" is now illegal in Massachusetts.

Gov. Deval Patrick on Friday signed a fast-tracked bill that makes secretly photographing up a woman's crotch in public a crime.

The bill was in response to a state Supreme Court decision earlier this week regarding an Andover man charged with taking upskirt photos of women on the subway. The court ruled the man did not violate current state law because the women were not nude.

The decision ignited a firestorm. An advocacy group started a petition demanding that upskirt photos be made illegal, and lawmakers went to work drafting legislation that would do so.

Patrick quickly signed H. 3934, “An Act Relative to Unlawful Sexual Surveillance.” The law goes into effect immediately.

"The legislation makes the secret photographing, videotaping, or electronically surveiling of another person’s sexual or other intimate parts, whether under or around a person’s clothing or when a reasonable person would believe that the person’s intimate parts would not be visible to the public, a crime," Patrick's office said in a statement Friday.

The law applies to photos of both women and men and includes the potential for felony charges, according to the Associated Press.