Taiwanese police yesterday warned against publicly circulating nude pictures of a Hong Kong actor and his actress girlfriends, saying that violators could be jailed for two years.
"Circulating obscene pictures and products are subject to punishment of up to two years in jail and a fine of up to NT$30,000," a police spokesman said.
He was referring to the publication of photos on the Internet of Hong Kong singer-actor Edison Chen (
The photos, apparently taken by Chen, show him and his girlfriends in various sexual positions. There was also video footage of Chen that was allegedly posted by the suspect, the officer said.
In related news, results of a survey released yesterday by the Business Software Alliance's Taiwan branch suggested that many are unaware of the legality or safety of downloaded items.
The survey conducted among 440 youths aged 13 to 24 revealed that 42 percent of respondents go online every day and 85.4 percent usually stay online for more than one hour each time.
It was found that 79.8 percent of respondents have had experience downloading Internet material.
Of these respondents, 74.9 percent have obtained music, 64.1 percent have gotten games, 58.4 percent have downloaded photos, 40.2 percent have downloaded computer software, 30.5 percent have downloaded movies and 16.8 percent have obtained online comic or fiction literature -- all free of charge.
The results showed that 40.2 percent of respondents have no idea if the material they have downloaded is legal or illegal, and 54.7 percent have seen their computers suffer a viral attack after a download.
Meanwhile, 64.7 percent of respondents will share the downloaded information with classmates or friends, and 68.8 percent have received less than four lessons on cyber safety or cyber ethics in one semester.
The survey was conducted from Feb. 1 to Feb. 5 by National Chengchi University's Marketing Survey Research Center for BSA-Taiwan. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percent.
For the latest on Edison Chen, see Pop Stop on page 14.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS