The appearance of
Eastman's cameras was so sudden and so pervasive that the reaction in many quarters was fear. A figure called the "camera fiend" began to appear
at beach resorts, prowling the premises until he could catch female bathers
unawares prompting signs such as "PEOPLE ARE FORBIDDEN TO USE THEIR KODAKS
ON THE BEACH." For a time, Kodak cameras were banned from the Washington
Monument. The "Hartford Courant" sounded the alarm as well, declaring
that "the sedate citizen can't indulge in any hilariousness without the
risk of being caught in the act and having his photograph passed around among
his Sunday school children." Some cities outlawed then altogether.
Virtually any new innovation that comes suddenly upon the
public landscape is met with fear. Before the opening of the first major
railway line, the Liverpool & Manchester in 1830, there were fears it would
be impossible to breathe while travelling at such a velocity, or that the
passengers’ eyes would be damaged by having to adjust to the motion. Thundering
along at previously unimaginable speeds, early steam locomotives were a
frightening prospect for their Victorian passengers.
Of course, today those mass hysteria terrors seem silly
just as today’s ‘fear of drones’ will wither over time. The classic ‘they will
take a picture of me naked through my bedroom window or sunbathing nude in my
backyard’ will seem, well, just as stupid as it appears here in this sentence. In
fact, in most states being nude in your backyard or your bedroom window is
actually illegal. Indecent exposure laws prohibit displays of private parts in
any manner where another normal person, engaged in normal activities can see
your indecents exposed. If you live around other homes, particularly two story
homes, be careful of exposing your indecents, drones or no drones.
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