Devil's Wheel at Oktoberfest: No filming of your underpants

There has been a fun event called the Devil's Wheel at Oktoberfest for over a hundred years. 10 to 15 people sit on a slightly sloping disc that rotates faster and faster. One after the other slides off the window due to centrifugal force. Women wearing dirndls can occasionally see their underwear briefly when their skirt slips in the tumult.

Anyone who deliberately photographs such moments or simply allows the camera to run along in order to later edit out relevant parts is committing a criminal offense under current law. There is a risk of a fine or imprisonment of up to two years for “injuring the intimate area by taking pictures”. This is regulated in Section 184k of the Criminal Code.

The regulation was only introduced in 2020. Justice Minister at the time was Christine Lambrecht (SPD). According to this, “whoever intentionally or knowingly takes or transmits an unauthorized image of another person’s genitals, buttocks, female breasts or the underwear covering these parts of the body will be punished, provided that these areas are protected from view”.

The paragraph became known as a regulation against “upskirting” or “downblousing”. Anyone who films from below under the skirt or from above into the blouse neckline is now liable to prosecution. The reason was cases in which men photographed or filmed women under their skirts with selfie sticks or mini cameras on the tips of their shoes.

Now, with the Devil's Wheel, no special tools are required to photograph female underwear. You just have to wait long enough for a skirt to slip in the hustle and bustle. But such recordings are also covered by paragraph 184k. The justification for Lambrecht's draft law stated in 2019 that the standard “is not limited to cases of active circumvention of privacy protection”.

For example, cases in which the potentially very brief moment in which the intimate area becomes visible under a skirt or dress when getting out of a vehicle or crossing the legs of a seated woman are also punishable. Even in such cases, photographs will be taken “under clothing,” according to the draft law.

Sexual intent on the part of the filmer is not necessary for criminal liability. The commercial interest in reselling recordings of the female intimate area is also sufficient.

At best, there may be problems with evidence. If someone spends hours filming the devil's wheel and says they're just doing it for the joy of popular amusement or for physical interest, then that could be true. After all, it's not obvious from the recording that anyone intends to edit out the underwear moments later. But if someone runs a channel on a porn site with the title “Sexy Devil's Wheel Girls”, they won't get very far by claiming that they are primarily interested in the phenomenon of centrifugal force when filming on the Devil's Wheel.

However, according to current law, it is not a criminal offense if women are filmed wearing cycling shorts underneath their skirts (which they have been able to borrow from the operator of the Teufelsrad since 2024). So far, the only thing that is punishable is filming the genitals or the “underwear” that covers them. Conversely, there is no obligation to wear such cycling shorts on the Devil's Bike. If women forego this, they are still not allowed to be filmed under their skirts.

Now criminal law should offer more protection against voyeuristic recordings in the future. Then, in addition to filming and photographing naked genitals, it should also be punishable if “the clothed genitals, clothed buttocks or clothed female breasts of another person are depicted in a sexually specific manner.” This was provided for in a draft bill by Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) from March.

Hubig was responding to a petition from Yanni Gentsch from Cologne, who was followed while jogging by a peeping Tom who filmed her buttocks while she was wearing sweatpants - which has not previously been punishable.

On the one hand, Hubig's suggestion from March covered more cases than before because it was no longer just about underwear, but also about jogging or cycling shorts that cover the intimate area. On the other hand, the proposal was narrower because it called for “sexually targeted” filming. It is uncertain whether this also includes someone filming the butts of joggers for commercial reasons. In any case, the German Association of Judges and the Federal Bar Association spoke out against the proposal because it was too vague.

According to information from the taz, the proposal is already outdated. Hubig is expected to put a new proposal to the federal cabinet's vote next Wednesday, but its contents are not yet known. This proposal should then be submitted to the Bundestag as a federal government bill.

The heads of women who were filmed on the devil's wheel are repeatedly mounted on naked bodies using AI. Such deepfakes are primarily used to advertise channels with images of the devil's wheel.

So far, the distribution of sexual deepfakes is only punishable under the Art Copyright Act because the facial photo is distributed without consent. In the future, however, there should be an explicit criminal law against sexualized deepfakes. The penalty will then be up to two years instead of the previous up to one year. This standard will also be the subject of the draft law, which will probably be approved by the cabinet next Wednesday.