Media News - Friday, July 25, 2008

Residents in Spain fined for putting prostitute clients on YouTube

Exasperated Madrid residents who filmed prostitutes negotiating with their clients outside their homes and broadcast them on YouTube have been fined for infringing the Spanish data protection Act. In recent years city hall in Madrid has spent hundreds of millions of euros beautifying the area around Puerta del Sol, one of the principal meeting points for tourists in the city. But Calle de la Montera has remained a haven for prostitutes. Tired of official indifference, residents took matters into their hands last year by installing webcams and recording images of the prostitutes' clients. Twenty-two of them were then placed on the YouTube website in the hope that they would act as a deterrent for the men if there was the danger that their wives would spot them attempting to buy sex. The Spanish Data Protection Agency, however, has ordered the neighbours to take down the webcams and fined them 601 euros for broadcasting images of passers-by without their consent. The government-funded body said it was the first time that it had taken action against private citizens for invading people's privacy. (The Times Online)

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