Ind. bill targets undercover video `vigilantes’

INDIANAPOLIS — A Senate panel has approved a bill that would make it a crime to take photographs or shoot footage at Indiana’s farms and businesses without the owner’s permission.

The bill was approved Tuesday on a 7-2 vote by the Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law. It now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

Republican state Sen. Travis Holdman of Markle tells The Journal Gazette (http://bit.ly/VSibsn ) his bill targets what he calls “vigilantes” who enter private property with the sole intent of obtaining undercover photos or videos.

The state director for the Humane Society of the United States, Erin Huang, says taking away whistleblower protections related to the country’s food supply is dangerous.

She says undercover photos and videos have led to animal abuse prosecutions in some states.