On Friday last week, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) criticized the justice system for a lack of progress in investigating several paid-membership pornography Web sites that provide videos of people secretly filmed in a variety of compromising situations, including nude photographs, women using the bathroom and sex acts.
People have been filmed in private and public places, including restrooms at train stations, gyms, schools and office buildings.
Some were allegedly tricked into sending videos to the Web sites run by Yu Chi-hao (余啟豪), while others might have been victims of extortion. Many are underage.
There are more than 1,000 alleged victims, with their names, personal details and other private information — including their habits and places they frequent — being used as “currency” among the more than 40,000 members of the Web sites.
While several victims last year filed charges against Yu and he was briefly detained, he was later released due to a lack of evidence.
In contrast to South Korea’s Nth Room, the case did not gain widespread domestic attention until several professional basketball players also allegedly fell prey to Yu and his online network.
Unfortunately, there is little the judiciary can do, because the Web site is hosted on servers overseas, according to an article in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times).
Although Yu has been indicted, he remains free and has announced that he might emigrate to the UK, as he is not barred from leaving the nation.
Users are still requesting and trading videos through the Web sites, Ho says, and there have allegedly been cases of users contacting some of the higher-profile victims and blackmailing them.
This has undoubtedly caused great psychological harm to those who have been filmed, many of whom have considered suicide.
While Yu runs the Web sites, there are likely countless collaborators, given how extensive the operation is. They should also be investigated so that victims do not have to live in fear.
Ho believes that these people are traceable, especially if they have been trying to blackmail the victims, and even though the police cannot shut down the Web sites, they could certainly use information from posts on the sites to put a stop to this before more people are harmed.
However, that does not seem to be happening.
Victim blaming and shaming also needs to stop.
Ho says that some alleged victims have been blamed by their families for what happened, and shamed by their coworkers, despite it often not being their fault.
In such an environment, coming forward is out of the question for many, which is why only a few of those filmed were willing to file charges against Yu.
The authorities have provided little protection or services to help those alleged victims who have come forward, who might be suffering from fear and deep distress, Ho says.
As cybercrimes become more elaborate, there need to be more mechanisms to deal with such cases so that investigations do not end with the judiciary proclaiming “the Web site is hosted overseas.”
The people running the Web site and posting content are Taiwanese, and it is clear that crimes are being committed in Taiwan.
The law needs to be amended so that these people can be prosecuted.
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