CNA Explains: Smart glasses and the law in Singapore – when does filming a stranger cross the line?

This could include filming a person’s private areas, whether bare or clothed, or filming them during a private act such as showering or using the toilet, she said.

Filming in public may also become illegal if it is part of harassment or stalking, or accompanied by other unlawful conduct, such as entering the toilet of the opposite gender, she added.

Invictus Law director Cory Wong said the intent can be inferred from the filmer’s actions.

If the filming occurs on two or more occasions, or is a single but protracted act, it could constitute stalking under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA).

“It is hard to argue that a voyeuristic, persistent or protracted act of filming was done without any ill intent. There is also the aggravating factor of vulnerable victims if minors are the ones being filmed,” he said.

What happens when the footage is posted online?

Even if the filming itself was lawful, posting footage online can cross the line into illegality if it causes harassment, defamation or misuse of personal data, Ms Khoo said.

Under POHA, a person may be liable if they post identifiable footage that causes someone “harassment, alarm or distress”, she said.

Under the Films Act, a person may also be liable for distributing obscene materials.

Ms Noelle Teoh, an associate lawyer at Gloria James-Civetta and Co, said no general rule requires a person’s face to be blurred simply because they did not consent to being filmed in public.

But where identification serves no purpose, particularly in sensitive situations or where children are involved, blurring may be a “sensible precaution”. 

Publishing footage that identifies or allows others to identify the individual concerned may amount to doxxing in some cases, including where it is done with the intention of causing harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation, she said.

But not every post containing identifying details amounts to doxxing.

For example, someone who records a car being driven badly and posts the footage online showing the vehicle and its registration number would not necessarily be doxxing the driver, especially if the driver is not identified, she said.

“The position may be different if additional information is published which identifies the driver and the circumstances indicate an intention to subject that person to harassment or humiliation,” she said.