Proposal takes aim at video voyeurs

Monday, July 17, 2000 | 9:42 a.m.

"In talking to people in our state and elsewhere, I've heard more and more stories about apartment managers or motel operators inserting cameras in rooms and watching people," she says. "It kind of gives you the creeps, especially if you are a woman."

Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, wants something more than misdemeanor charges for video voyeurs. She says such activity warrants felony or gross misdemeanor penalties.

"I want to make sure that if someone is caught in the state of Nevada invading someone's privacy in this way, that there will be some hefty consequences," she said.

But any new law would have to be carefully written to avoid legal challenges that have sunk similar measures elsewhere.

"We are very concerned about the constant chipping away of people's privacy rights, especially in the new millennium with the new technology," said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.

But Peck wants lawmakers to consult with his group and others before crafting a bill during the 2001 Legislature.

"It is our experience that legislative solutions to these legitimate concerns and real problems are oftentimes worse than the problems themselves," he said.