A district court on Wednesday sentenced 29-year-old Lin Yi-hsiu (林亦修) to five years and six months in prison for secretly filming people engaged in sex and selling the videos for profit.
The Shilin District Court also ordered the seizure of NT$760,000 (US$22,962), the amount deemed to be his illegal earnings.
Lin was convicted of contravening the Criminal Code with offenses against privacy, including filming private body parts and non-public activities for commercial purposes.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said Lin committed the crimes in 2022 and 2023, producing 17 videos involving 10 people — six women and four men.
The footage included four male-female couples and one same-sex female couple, all filmed without their consent.
The videos began circulating online in March last year and primarily showed couples undressed and engaging in sexual activity inside private hot spring rooms at the Emperor Spa in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投).
Investigators also discovered that Lin had secretly filmed at other hot spring resorts in Beitou.
Authorities said Lin purchased professional recording equipment and even modified a mobile phone to serve as a spy camera.
Beginning in 2022, he scouted hiking trails in Beitou and trespassed into the backyards of hot spring resorts, often breaking through fences to position himself near private rooms. From there, he filmed unsuspecting couples through small openings, capturing intimate acts without their knowledge.
Evidence presented in court showed that Lin was active in the members-only adult forum “Chuangyi Shifang” (創意私房), where paying members could post, trade and sell sexually explicit videos and images.
Lin sold the 17 sex videos he had filmed, which were later edited and further circulated by buyers through messaging platforms such as Line and other social media, reaching wider audiences.
Investigators also uncovered that Lin had a history of voyeuristic behavior dating back to 2019.
At that time, he had mounted spy cameras onto umbrella handles and other everyday objects to record so-called “upskirt videos” of women in short skirts. He uploaded these videos to the same forum under the username “upupskirtgogo.”
Following the circulation of the hot spring sex videos in March last year, authorities launched an investigation that led to Lin’s arrest in June of the same year, but he denied all allegations during questioning.
Judicial investigators used street surveillance footage to identify Lin driving to hot spring resorts in Beitou.
By matching the vehicle’s license plate, they were able to track his movements to specific locations and incidents of illegal filming.
Lin was later detained and, under further questioning, admitted to the offenses.
The verdict is a first-instance ruling and may be appealed.
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