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Web sex pics spark free-speech debate in Hong Kong

By Keith Bradsher
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, HONG KONG
Saturday, Feb 16, 2008, Page 9

"On the Internet there are a lot of nude pictures and sexy photos, but the police don't bring charges."

Oiwan Lam, blogger

A series of arrests for posting explicit images of what appear to be some of Asia's top pop stars has led to a division among Internet users here over free speech and raised questions of selective enforcement of pornography laws.

Police have arrested nine people in connection with photographs and videos on the Internet over the last two weeks. Three suspects have been formally charged, including a 24-year-old man in Kowloon who was charged on Tuesday with publishing obscene materials after he was said to have posted 100 photos. He did not enter a plea and was freed on bail of HK$10,000 (US$1,282).

Some Web users here see the police action as an infringement on individual freedoms. They held a protest last Sunday, arguing, among other things, that Hong Kong's anti-pornography ordinance is too broad and too vague and that this is a case of unequal treatment.

"On the Internet there are a lot of nude pictures and sexy photos, but the police don't bring charges" except in this case involving the singers, said Oiwan Lam (林藹雲), a local blogger who participated in the demonstration and edits inmediahk.net, a citizen-reporter Web site.

Other Internet users have been wary of casting the case as a free speech issue, partly because they sense that the police crackdown may have strong public backing and partly because Hong Kong laws allow the police to prosecute people who distribute pornography.

Some say the backlash from the public could be harsher than the crackdown by the police if Internet users oppose it too vocally.

"If we listen to radio talk shows and so forth, there are people calling in who say that Internet users are unreasonable and want to pass around dirty pictures," said Charles Mok (莫乃光), the chairman of the Hong Kong chapter of the Internet Society, an international advisory group on Internet standards.

Mok took a sympathetic tone toward the authorities, noting that just as the police could not ticket every traffic offender, they could not charge everyone who distributed pornography, but did have an obligation to address cases that caught the community's attention, like videos and photos that appear to show famous singers engaged in sex acts.

Mok did not join Sunday's march. The crowd was estimated by the police at 230 people and by organizers at more than 400.

One of Hong Kong's bestselling singers, Gillian Chung (鍾欣桐), who is popular with girls in their early teens and younger and who has been prominently featured in ads for Hong Kong Disneyland, seems to appear prominently in the photographic material.

At a brief news conference on Monday, Chung neither confirmed nor denied that she appeared in the images, but she said she had been "naive" in her youth and regretted causing distress to her family and fans.

When a few photos began to circulate on the Internet two weeks ago, the Emperor Entertainment Group, the promoter of Chung and several other singers involved, suggested that the photos had been altered to place the stars' faces on the women's bodies in the videos and photographs. Spokesmen for Emperor Entertainment declined to comment on the dispute.

Late on Tuesday, in an e-mail reply to questions, the Hong Kong police confirmed that they had arrested nine people and said that two had been charged with "publishing obscene articles" and one with "access to a computer with dishonest/criminal intent."

The police declined to elaborate on the question of selective enforcement except to say: "Any enforcement action taken by the police is in accordance with the laws in Hong Kong."

Some observers say they see the cases as a toughening of Hong Kong police policies. The arrests coincide with preparations for six Olympic equestrian events to be held in Hong Kong in August.

Jackie Hung (孔令瑜), the vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, a broad coalition of nongovernmental groups in Hong Kong, said she knew of 37 protesters who were arrested at various nonviolent protests last year.

The crackdown contrasts starkly with Hong Kong's recent past. When about 500,000 people protested July 1, 2003, against a proposal for strict internal security laws, police arrested no one. Afterward, the government withdrew the proposal.

Hong Kong media reported this week that a video store across the border in mainland China began selling CDs of the singers' explicit videos and photos for US$2.70 each, but was promptly closed by mainland officials. Discussions of the videos and photos have flooded Internet forums in Hong Kong and the mainland.

The photos and videos appear to show a well-known male Hong Kong singer and record producer, Edison Chen(陳冠希), in separate scenes with at least six women, four of whom are also well-known singers.

In a video released last week, Chen apologized "to anyone who has been affected" and asked the public to delete any copies of the photos.

"The lives of many innocent people have been affected by this malicious and criminal conduct and in this regard I am filled with pain, hurt and frustration," Chen said.

According to the police, Chen took his laptop computer to a local computer repair shop and the computer's memory was copied there.

An employee at a downtown computer store, eLiTe Multimedia, who gave only his last name, Yeung, said on Tuesday that a former employee had been arrested. He declined to elaborate, citing the police investigation.

Chen may have problems of his own. Organized crime has long played an important role in Hong Kong's entertainment industry. The current scandal has led Hong Kong tabloids to run reports in the last several days of supposed plans by gangsters to "teach a lesson" to Chen and perhaps even kill him.

Chen has left Hong Kong but plans to return this weekend and hold a news conference, said Mavis Leung, his spokeswoman, who declined to elaborate.
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