A public-spirited woman in Nanjing has brought to light some of the nefarious acts taking place on a daily basis of which we may be unaware, by calling out a security guard for his taking of multiple photos of women’s bare legs.
The lady in question had just finished shopping in Sam’s Club off Ruanjian Avenue in Nanjing’s Yuhuatai District on 9 October.
While riding the escalator at about 13:00, she noticed a security guard taking her photo with his mobile phone.
Irritated by this invasion of privacy, the lady then approached the guard and set about questioning him.
“Exactly what are your duties?”, she asked. “Is it normal to play on your phone?”.
The security guard then became immediately agitated, further arousing the woman’s suspicions, revealed The Paper in a video report published yesterday.
“Did you take my photo just now? If so, I want you to delete it immediately”, she continued.
The guard replied that he had been photographing the escalator as part of his job. But the lady was not having any of it. When further pressured by her, the security guard eventually conceded. “OK OK OK, I’ll delete it”, he said.
After the man opened the photo APP on his phone, the woman then noticed an album full of photos of women’s legs, many of which were bare.
At this point the lady decided additional actions were called for. After alerting his superiors, the police was summoned to the scene, whereupon the guard was immediately dismissed.
The case is under ongoing investigation.
While the woman’s actions have brought to an end the security guard’s unethical behaviour, the incident also makes timely the issue of invasion of privacy.
And about time. After all, it’s the fact that Chinese people have for many years been largely blasé about the taking of others’ photos without permission which has got us into this mess.
