Be careful what you film...

Here are two interesting stories from The Daily Yomiuri dealing with filming in Japan.

"Speeding driver nabbed based on online video"

A man has been arrested on suspicion of speeding after posting a video clip online that showed him riding his motorcycle at speeds of up to 188 kph in a 50 kph zone, police said.

Hiroaki Iwahashi, 42, a company employee of Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, was arrested Thursday after police analyzed footage that had been posted on YouTube and other video Web sites.

This is the first case in Japan of someone being arrested for speeding based on police analysis of a video posted online.

According to the police, Iwahashi rode his 1,300cc motorcycle at dangerous speeds on the Koya-Ryujin Skyline, or National Highway Route 371, for 10 kilometers between Katsuragicho and Aridagawacho in Wakayama Prefecture on Aug. 16. The speed limit on the route is 50 kph.

I have heard of people getting busted by security cameras for not paying at toll booths, but this appears to be a first for being busted for a traffic violation as posted on YouTube. Glad to see that the Japanese police are acquainted with internet technology...

"Care worker filmed elderly woman on toilet"

A 19-year-old nursing care worker has been suspended after allegedly filming a 94-year-old resident of a facility for the elderly while she sat on a toilet.

Two video clips showing the woman sitting on the toilet and having her nose pinched were posted on a Web site, prompting the police to start investigating the incident as a case of defamation.

The care worker reportedly told the police that she filmed the woman with her cell phone "as a sign of affection." However, she denied posting the videos online, and suggested that a storage device containing the videos in the phone could have been removed while she had left it on a desk.

The president of Shotokukai, the medical corporation that operates the Katoera home for the elderly in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, said Friday that the care worker took the footage during a night shift in January.

What happened to respect for the elderly? Defamation should be only the beginning of charges against the so-called care giver... Such actions make the work of photographers, filmmakers and visual anthropologists all the more difficult.