Learning English

(Photo by Getty Images)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Download a free worksheet!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The story

A BBC investigation has found that some men are secretly filming women having fun with their friends in city centres where there are lots of bars, restaurants and night clubs. They then post these videos online to make money.

The videos are described as “walking tours” of major cities worldwide including London, Oslo, Miami and Bangkok. However, most of these videos focus on women in dresses and skirts. Many are filmed from a lower angel under clothing.

Some videos use Meta glasses to film women secretly. 

Meta, the tech company which also owns Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, told the BBC its glasses have a light that activates whenever someone records or takes pictures. But the BBC has seen several videos online showing how the light can be covered or easily switched off.

Because of this, women have reported being approached by men wearing the glasses, and most didn’t know that the conversations were being recorded.

News headlines

Men covertly filming women at night and profiting from footage
BBC News

Hit on, then shamed: inside the world of men who use smart glasses to secretly film women
The Independent

'I was secretly filmed with smart glasses and then trolled online'
BBC News

Key words and phrases

covertly
in a secet, hidden way

• The secret service covertly recorded government conversations.

hit on (someone)
start speaking with someone and show them that you are romantically interested in them

• She asked for my phone number, so I asked her if she was hitting on me.

troll
leave offensive or annoying comments on the internet to upset someone

• The athlete was trolled online after losing in the final.

Next 

Do you ever find speaking scary? Try our new Beating Speaking Anxiety course.

Try The Listening Room to practise your listening skills with BBC news reports.