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She complained she was photographed topless on the beach without consent – ​​Police told her it was in a public place

THE personal trainer Lily Cook along with her sister decided to enjoy the sun and the sea on a Sydney beach. The Australian decided to do topless, without however knowing that some people were photographing her without her permission. The incident occurred on November 12.

The photos they made the rounds on the internet and luckily a friend of hers saw them and alerted her. Lily, upon receiving the message from her boyfriend, went straight to the police to report the men who allegedly photographed her and uploaded her photo without her consent according to Daily Mail.

The response she received from the police station does not seem to have satisfied her, as they told her there was nothing they could do. When the police informed her that the alleged perpetrators could not be charged as she was in a public place when the photo was taken, lost the ground beneath her feet. The police told her that it is not an offense and a crime taking a photograph of any person in a public place, unless taken in private’.

According to the young lady’s testimony, she saw three men on the beach – two of whom he knew through social media – and waited for them to leave so he could go topless. That same night, a friend of hers sent her a photo and asked if it was hers. “The person who sent me the photograph confirmed who sent it to him” Lily said.

The personal trainer, immediately contacted the men and their girlfriends in a group message at Instagram, asking for explanations. The answer she received was that they were photographing the landscape and she was also in the “frame” of the photograph. However, “because of the quality of the image and the angle, it was clear that one of the men had me approach to photograph me topless,” Cook wrote.

“These men (and I use that word elegantly) chose to say lies, and various stories …instead of apologize and admit their act,” he argued and added “I can’t help but think how different this whole process would have been if they had the power and the dignity to admit their actions and realize how this can affect a woman” he claimed.

“I am disappointed because I thought something would happen,” Lily told the “Daily Telegraph” newspaper, even saying that seeing photos of her topless circulating on the internet affected her mental health, “my mental health was significantly affected,” she noted .

“It is a moment in my life that will me it haunts forever,” admitted the young lady and emphasized that she intends to talk to other women, who claimed that the same thing had happened to them. “I’m sharing my experience because I know there are women and girls out there who have experienced what happened to me and feel the weight of it social stigma. Even in a public place, the privacy of others should be respected and if someone feels unsafe because of the actions of others, they should report it to the police,” the Australian emphasized.

For his part, lawyer Matt Ward believes that, o law must be harmonized with changes in the way people use technology, as the line between public and private became ‘blurred’ by the increased use of content on social media platforms. The same opinion is shared by the professor of the British organization “RMIT”, Nicola Henry, an expert on sexual abuse based on images, pointing out that you should n consent of individuals to be included in legislation of Australia.


Source: News Beast

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