When the issue of privacy and surveillance is brought up, most of us tend to think of the ways in which the government surveils its citizens. Less often mentioned, however, are the ways in which we as individuals violate each other's privacy.
Hannah Garland was on the receiving end of such a violation of privacy — and she's here to speak out about it on her own terms.
On Monday, Garland took to her Facebook page to write about how she was one of 12 women who were filmed and photographed nude without their permission by Teddy Browar-Jarus. Browar-Jarus, a 32-year-old man from Cambridge, Massachusetts, was brought before a court on Friday on a series of charges for making secret recordings of unknowing women while they were naked, reports The Boston Herald.
In her Facebook post, Garland spoke of her trepidation about "sharing her involvement" in the story, noting that she was worried about the "appropriate way" of sharing something so personal, whether it was worth it to go public, and whether or not it would change how people thought of her.
In the end, she says, she chose not to be silenced.
"I am one of the 12 identified women," she writes. "There are now numerous tapes that exist of me having sex despite the fact I never consented to, or was even aware of, the filming."
Garland says that she carried the knowledge that these tapes were out there for over the year, with the support of her friends and family, and is now "ready to share the weight."
"I had no control over this situation, but I CAN control how I disclose it, discuss it, and move forward from it," she says in the post. "I choose to feel whatever I feel without judgement, I choose to be honest about how hurt I am, I choose to recognize my strength. I choose to be aware that crimes of this nature happen ALL the time, and to be an ally to others who have experienced trauma and extreme breaches of trust."
In her post, Garland also addresses people who might be upset that she "outed" someone, telling those people that they can "defriend me on social media and in life."
According to the Boston Herald, Browar-Jarus had been arraigned on 38 counts stemming from secret recordings found in a bathroom that he used over the course of four years to film women going in and out of showers in two separate apartments in Somerville, Massachusetts. The police identified 12 women from the recordings, all of whom said they did not know of or give permission for the recordings.
Though it's clearly a completely different case, Browar-Jarus' violation of the privacy of others is reminiscent of the case of Dani Mathers, the Playboy model who may face jail time for secretly taking a photo of a naked woman for what she probably thought was a harmless Snapchat story.
It should be obvious by now, but just in case it isn't, we'll leave you with Garland's closing comments on her Facebook post: "Don’t be crappy to other people. Don’t teach your children it is okay to be crappy to other people. Call out your friends that are crappy to other people. Please."