Montana Senate OKs bills to put electronics in privacy laws

HELENA — The state Senate approved two bills Thursday that would update peeping Tom and indecent exposure laws to prohibit committing those crimes through electronic means.

Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, passed 47-0. It would make it illegal to secretly watch or record another person either in person or by means of a hidden electronic device.

The bill also addresses a section of the current law that resulted in the release of a man who was accused in 2012 of secretly videotaping women in a changing room at a Missoula pool. Charges fell through beca...