Males secretly filmed their wives and girlfriends and posted footage on-line, earlier than boasting about their recordings.
Others focused strangers, with one hiding a digital camera on a strolling route within the hope of catching ladies urinating.
In new BBC documentary Looking the Spycammers, Jess Davies uncovers the darkish on-line community of hidden cameras in bedrooms, loos, altering rooms and different personal areas.
Charity Refuge reported a 78% rise in technology-facilitated abuse referrals, whereas Welsh Ladies’s Support mentioned the size of the issue is difficult to quantify as a result of most victims do not even know it is occurring.
“What is admittedly disturbing is how lots of the perpetrators have been filming and sharing content material of individuals – largely ladies – that have been their family members,” TV presenter Davies mentioned.
“It actually highlights how anybody might be focused with this hurt.”
Throughout her investigation, the 33-year-old, who grew up in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, found the vary of low cost spycam expertise out there, with cameras disguised as on a regular basis objects reminiscent of pens, air fresheners and plugs.
The subject is private to Davies, who was secretly photographed bare whereas sleeping, with the picture shared on a non-public WhatsApp group.
Jess Davies says it “looks like these ladies are being hunted down and preyed upon” [BBC]
“It felt so extraordinarily violating, to assume somebody you cared for might do that to me. It makes you’re feeling nugatory,” she mentioned.
“Seeing comparable pictures of different victims shared within the discussion board that we infiltrated introduced these emotions of betrayal again and made me query the place my picture ended up.
“Might it have made its solution to considered one of these boards?”
Davies mentioned some dismiss the affect of such actions as innocent or “simply banter”.
She added: “For others, just like the voyeurs we point out in our movie, they felt if the sufferer by no means knew they have been filmed with out consent then there was no downside.
“It actually highlights how dismissed on-line harms and picture abuse is.
“Behind every picture or video is an individual who has to stay with that betrayal for the remainder of their life.”
For the documentary, Davies teamed up with investigative journalist Liam Connell, who has beforehand infiltrated secretive on-line networks.
They gained entry to a voyeur web site – a hub from which customers hyperlink to encrypted discussion groups – and uncovered individuals brazenly exchanging tips about secretly filming individuals and boasting about their recordings.
“It is a unending cycle of mass distribution of non-consensual content material of ladies,” she mentioned.
“It looks like these ladies are being hunted down and preyed upon.”
Jess Davies was shocked by a lot of what she discovered [BBC/Rock Paper Productions]
Davies additionally confronted the proprietor of the discussion board they infiltrated.
She mentioned: “He instructed us he commonly checks content material and takes down non-consensual content material, however trying on the proof we might discovered, it appeared little thought had gone into the long-lasting hurt this content material has on the victims.
“It felt as if the individuals who had been filmed with out their consent had been completely ignored and dismissed, their consent wasn’t wanted.
“Actually, it was the shortage of consent which motivated lots of the spycammers.”
Davies hopes the documentary raises consciousness of the hurt attributable to hidden spy cameras and reinforces that abuses of privateness and “consent ought to by no means be normalised”.
Are secret recordings unlawful?
Within the UK, filming somebody just isn’t mechanically a criminal offense.
For instance, in public areas, individuals are usually allowed to movie what’s seen to them.
Secret recording turns into a criminal offense for a lot of causes, together with whether it is voyeurism, takes place in an space the place the particular person being filmed can anticipate privateness, or is completed to trigger harassment or alarm.
Home abuse charity Refuge is looking for more durable regulation of hidden surveillance units and higher police coaching to determine and examine their use.
“What is particularly worrying is how accessible and inexpensive these units are, permitting extra perpetrators to weaponise them as a type of management,” mentioned its coverage and public affairs supervisor Bo Bottomley.
It has seen a 78% rise in referrals for circumstances of technology-facilitated abuse within the final yr.
However the charity mentioned almost each survivor it supported has skilled some type of technology-facilitated abuse, and there was an increase in reviews of hidden cameras and microphones being utilized in properties.
A spokesperson from Welsh Ladies’s Support mentioned “this type of covert surveillance can strip away an individual’s sense of privateness and security”.
The charity warned that the hurt extends far past the preliminary recording, with shared pictures and movies having a devastating affect on survivors’ lives and leaving many feeling unsafe, even in their very own properties.
“This type of abuse is especially difficult to quantify. Many survivors won’t remember that that is occurring to them,” they added.
Refuge additionally referred to as on tech corporations to behave shortly to take away shared spycam footage and supply info to police to assist determine these accountable.
The UK authorities mentioned it didn’t “tolerate covert filming or the harassment of victims”.
Its Violence In opposition to Ladies and Ladies (VAWG) Technique contains measures to deal with on-line and technology-facilitated abuse, whereas exploring methods to enhance the protection of sensible and related units.
A spokesperson added: “It’s already unlawful to share intimate pictures with out consent. By way of the Crime and Policing Act, we’re going additional by making it an offence to take intimate pictures with out consent, together with by putting in gear reminiscent of cameras to allow individuals to take action.
“We’re funding a nationwide centre to enhance the police response to violence in opposition to ladies and ladies.”
Looking the Spycammers might be out there on the BBC’s YouTube channels and the BBC iPlayer on Wednesday 15 July