Authorities are investigating videos posted to a porn website purportedly showing upskirt images of unsuspecting female passengers on the D.C. region’s Metro transit agency.
Many of the videos, which appeared recently on the website xHamster.com, show the passengers’ faces and are captioned with taglines such as “teens” and “slut,” Washingtonian reported Tuesday after a reader alerted popular D.C. blog PoPville of the videos.
The reader who sent the letter wrote that the videos had appeared in an unrelated online search.
“I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it were it not for the distinctive colors of Metro seats,” the letter reads. “I watched enough to confirm that it definitely was Metro, not some other similar appearing system — the map is a dead giveaway; and, it showed the Silver Line, meaning that the video is recent.”
Metro authorities told the Washingtonian that they are looking into the videos, which were posted by a user called “DonkCam1.”
Even if the culprit is found, if the videos — which appear to have been filmed using a smartphone — were posted by a third party who later found them online, then authorities may not be able to do much, as voyeurism in public spaces is extremely difficult to prosecute.
“As always, we encourage riders to report any harassment or unusual behavior to Transit Police, even if the incident may not rise to the level of a crime,” Metro spokeswoman Caroline Laurin told Washingtonian.
In October, a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed two charges against a Springfield, Virginia, man accused of taking upskirt photos of female tourists at the Lincoln Memorial. The judge ruled the women did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such a busy, public location.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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