Day #0 (01/28/2008)

The discussion forum servers are being overwhelmed today by the massive traffic surge in pursuit of this news story.  Forum posts are being deleted as quickly as they are posted.
 
Here is the mainstream media report (Ming Pao via Sina.com):

Recently, people have been posting a simulated photograph of Emperor Entertainment Group artistes Gillian Chung and Edison Chen in bed.  Emperor Entertainment Group has filed a police report.  According to the Emperor Entertainment Group spokesman, that photograph had been manipulated and the person in the photograph was not Gillian Chung.  Therefore, they have filed a report with the police as well as asked their lawyer to seek legal redress.  The spokesperson also said that they have begun an investigation.  When they find the source, they will take legal action.  The spokesperson also reminded people that it is illegal to publicly show pornographic photographs.  The spokesperson called on everybody to cease showing or forwarding the relevant photograph to avoid legal trouble.

This story has already gone through several stages.  At first, someone posted a fuzzy photograph of two persons: a man who looks like Edison Chen and a woman who looks like Gillian Chung.  The woman in the photograph showed her right nipple as well as her vagina.  So was it really those two?  Netizens began a debate over the authenticity of the photograph.  Some Photoshop experts thought that it was nearly impossible to fake a fuzzy photograph because it is hard to reproduce the noise in the background in a consistent way.  Other people thought that the photograph seemed fake. 
 
Then there were other netizens who chose to do detective work on the background shown in the photograph.  Was this the bedroom of Edison Chen?  There was a bed, some stuffed animals, a bed post, a wall poster, etc.  Does anyone have a photograph of the bedroom of Edison Chen?  Someone went to YouTube and pulled down an Edison Chen video with a brief shot of a bedroom (which may or may not be his bedroom).  A comparison showed some similarities, but it is far from identical (e.g. there is a wall poster, but it is a different one; there are stuffed animals but they aren't the same ones; etc).  Another netizen looked at the bottom of the woman's foot and compared it against known photographs of Gillian Chung, and determined the calluses and toes were different.
 
Later in the day, another photograph emerged.  This one is of a woman who looks like female singer Bobo Chan fellating a man who looks like Edison Chan.   Now you see why the Hong Kong discussion forums have imploded today.
 
Are you one of the few people in Hong Kong who hasn't seen those photographs yet?  Well, you will have to look elsewhere because I am not posting them here.  I am telling you about this story so that you can prepare yourself for tomorrow's newspaper coverage.  Will you see this as the front page story due to the insatiable, unrestrainable appetite for lurid sensationalism?  Or will you see nothing at all due to self-censorship and/or fear at offending the Emperor Entertainment Group?

Day #1 (01/29/2008)  As I predicted yesterday, the so-called Edison Chen/Gillian Chung/Bobo Chan "photographs" made the front pages of some of the Hong Kong newspapers.

 

 

 

 

 
(Apple Daily; Apple Daily) 

The storm broke at around 8pm on the evening before yesterday.  A netizen posted a photograph of a man and a woman in bed at the Hong Kong Discussion Forum.  These two bore some resemblance to Edison Chen and Gillian Chung.  Other netizens began to spread that photograph to their friends and other forums.  At the Hong Kong Golden Forum, more than 2,000 people posted comments within a period of five hours.  At around 3pm, another photograph appeared showing a man and a woman engaged in a sexual act.  The two bore some resemblance to Edison Chen and Bobo Chan.  There is now a third photograph showing a woman who bore some resemblance to Cecilia Chung.

(SCMP) 

Police are investigating the case of an allegedly obscene photo of singer-actress Gillian Chung Yan-tung circulating on the internet.  Emperor Entertainment (Hong Kong) Limited issued a statement yesterday saying it had found a photo of Chung, which was computer-modified to put her face on a half-naked girl, on the Web.   "We are chasing the source of the circulation, the circulator and the downloader," Emperor Entertainment said. "Any distribution, downloading, transference or publication of the image is illegal.  "We have already passed the case to lawyers to follow up. If the distributor or upload person [of the image] is confirmed, we will seek court action."  Lawyer Wong Kwok-tung said uploading  a computerised photo that degraded Chung could be criminal defamation.  "Gillian Chung's image is that of a decent celebrity, and this act obviously is meant to degrade her. It can be a criminal offence," he said.  Mr Wong said it was not difficult to trace the source of the distribution of the image, but downloaders of the image should bear no responsibility.  "The Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance penalises only the people who publicise the image, but there is no penalty for [obtaining it]," he said.

The photographs purportedly first appeared at an overseas website (bcoms.net).  Therefore, the Hong Kong police would have to go through InterPol to obtain the information on the uploader.  However, the Hong Kong police should be able to find the person who posed the photographs at the Hong Kong Discussion Forum (discuss.com.hk).

Hong Kong police on Thursday said they had arrested the unemployed 29-year-old in connection with nude pictures purportedly taken of celebrities. These had been posted online earlier this week – a day after an investigation was launched on Wednesday.  Police Commissioner Tang King-shing said during a briefing with legislators on Thursday that an arrest had been made.  The suspect was detained at his New Territories home. Investigators were trying to determine his role in the case.

Deputy-Commissioner for Operations Peter Yam Tat-wing said there was a substantial amount of evidence connected with the unemployed man.  “The service provider handed us the IP address of the individual whose computer contained some of the photographs,” he said.  Mr Yam also cautioned the public that circulating the photographs was a criminal offence.

Publishing obscene articles on the internet is an offence under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance. This also includes the act of reposting the obscene articles or internet hyper-linking to obscene articles, whether for profit or otherwise. Anyone convicted of this offence is liable to a fine of HK$1 million and imprisonment for three years.

(Those Were The Days blog)

So the police "made an arrest."  Does this mean that the affair is over?  Will the female stars no longer have to live in fear?  Sorry, no.  Deputy-Commissioner for Operations Peter Yam said yesterday that "the individual may not be the first person who posted the photographs."  There are certain difficulties in trying to find the source, but he emphasized that the police have the ability to find those who are circulating those photographs ... the police be able to arrest a hundred or a thousand people who are forwarding the photographs, but that does not solve the case.  The culprit is still out there and may continue to post more photographs.  The war against the circulators only creates a White Terror in Hong Kong, where netizens are afraid of posting.  Meanwhile, these photographs continue to be freely available for downloading at any number of overseas websites.  So what good is arresting one or two circulators?  Can the Hong Kong police make Google forbid the search for those photographs?  Or prevent people from using Foxy to forward the photographs?
 
The police only know to take some minor action and create the impression that "an arrest" seems to imply that the case has been solved.  But they are completely different things.  They have only managed to intimidate the ordinary citizens from circulating or distributing those photographs.  Even they have admitted that until the person responsible for releasing the photographs, then those articles won't even be forwarded to the Obscene Articles Tribunal. ...

Mandatory reading:  A tale of two storms: mainland emergency reporting and the Hong Kong media freeze  David Bandurski and Joseph Cheng, China Media Project

Six more people have been arrested and computers and hard disks containing hundreds of pictures seized, as police widen their investigation into the online distribution of nude photos of local celebrities.  Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Wong Fook-chuen said last night that four men and two women, aged 23 to 30, had been arrested in the past two days for possessing nude photos for distribution purposes.  Hundreds of pictures, including some never circulated on the internet but related to the photos previously uploaded, were found in computers and hard disks seized from the man in Central.  "Even if these [people] are not the principal sources, we believe they are very close to them," Mr Wong said.
 
Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing repeated a warning against possessing such photos during a radio interview. "Even possessing the picture might be illegal, but of course, we will look at the numbers," he said.  Acknowledging that many people were worried that they might have committed a crime, Mr Tang said: "The amount might determine the intention. It is illegal to have many of these pictures, as they might be used for publishing or selling.  "What is the meaning of many? One hundred pictures? Two hundred pictures? I don't think it is a matter of numbers, but we also have to look at whether the number is reasonable. Also we have to consider other factors as evidence."
 
Mr Tang said the police had contacted their counterparts on the mainland and overseas when he was asked if Hong Kong could investigate websites based across the border. He denied police were paying disproportionate attention to the case.  "We're not doing this because the case is related to celebrities. We also look at how serious it is and the concerns of the public. In the past, we have arrested people on similar charges."

So SCMP reports: "Hundreds of pictures, including some never circulated on the internet but related to the photos previously uploaded, were found ..."  Are we being conned here?  This collection could be the thirteen photographs that have already appeared, plus the known computer-modified photographs of Gillian Chung, Cecilia Chung (see the photograph of her in the bathtub on the front page of Oriental Daily is an old one), Joey Yung, etc, plus many more other obscene photographs.  These are the 'other factors' that Commissioner Tang talks about, but will not provide in this most recent case.
 
Will Commissioner Tang's remarks led to panic hard disk purges all over Hong Kong?  All previous assumptions that possession is not illegal have gone out of the window.  Tang has just stated that possession = distribution, depending on his own opinion.  The resulting maximum penalty is HKD 1,000,000 in fines and 3 years in prison.  Which among Hong Kong citizens should already be identified as a prime suspect?  Edison Chen!  He took hundreds of these photographs, he stored them on his pink Apple Powerbook and it is now know that some of those photographs were distributed on the Internet.  Isn't he the most obvious suspect for the crime of possession/potential distribution?  Why haven't the police arrested and detained him with no bail?  Did he leave for Canada because he was anticipating the problem?  Have the Hong Kong police asked Interpol and/or Royal Canadian Mounted Police to interrogate Edison Chen?
 
Who else has a lot of obscene photographs with the likelihood of distribution?  Hong Kong blogger Life is but an empty dream ... wrote about the night before the story broke that the workers at Apple Daily congregated around the computer monitor to look at those photographs.  So the photographs are definitely present at Apple Daily.  Today, Apple Daily also published the name of an America-based Chinese-language overseas student website on which the photographs continue to be available for viewing and commenting.  You copy the name of that webpage from the Apple Daily, search for it on Google, read a few pages and you will arrive at those photographs conveniently compressed for downloading.  But you don't expect the police to search Apple Daily, do you?  I mean, it might damage the Olympics ...

In Sing Tao, the headline makes it clear where the photographs came from: "Secrets believed to be leaked when Edison Chen got his computer repaired in Central District."  Apparently, the computer repair person scanned the hard disk, found the photographs, made a copy for himself and shared with friends.  This person may be guilty of theft.  But if the copies were shared and distributed among friends, then which one of them is the person who posted the photographs on the Internet?
 
Sing Tao has shifted its position.  When the story first broke, it (and its free sister newspaper Headline Daily) were adamant that the photographs were computer modifications.  Headline News wrote (via Dukedom of Aberdeen blog): "Any clear-eyed person can see that these are computer transplants."  So why was the blind one now?  As of today, nobody is saying that anymore because of the immense difficulty of engineering hundreds of computer modifications flawlessly.  By the way, if the EEG company lodged complaints with the police on January 27 and 28, did they say "computer modifications"?  If so, they were guilty of filing a false report even as Edison Chen left for Canada in order not to be questioned by the Hong Kong police and be caught in a perjury.  If they were misled by the principals, then at what point did they realize that and why won't they come out to correct the record?  Or are they still dead-enders all the way?

(cnBeta.com)  The following transcript by a dedicated fan of Gillian Chung has been widely circulated in the Internet forums.  The person who made those comments go by the obvious nickname of "Senior cadre's little girl."

Let me tell you one last time -- get lost!  Or else I'm going to send your IP addresses to my dad so that he can notify the provincial public security bureau to issue a national warrant for your arrests.  This may even go to the Interpol.  You better be careful!  Think about your parents.  They must work hard to send you to study overseas.  I don't want my dad to arrest you.  So all of you just get lost!!!

Damn, what do your fathers do?  Stop telling me to be careful about what I say, or I will have your parents arrested as well.

So you can have your say now.  I'll tell my dad later.  You people are overseas, but your parents may be arrested in China.

Comment #47: your dad is the person who is really a dog.  My dad is working overtime today.  When he gets back, you'll be sorry.  All you overseas student trash!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overseas student trash, do you think that I am kidding?  You don't believe me?  Let me tell you.  I've recorded all your IP addresses.  None of you will get away!!!!  You may be having fun abusing Gillian right now.  But when you come back to China, my father will make you cry at the airport!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You are just a bunch of trash.

You overseas student trash should not be too happy!!!!  My father and the county party secretary are meeting with the provincial leader tonight.  When he gets home, you'll be sorry.  Some of you pretend that your parents are senior officials, but you better wake up and reflect!!!  I am the child of a senior official, so how could I not know what the children of senior officials are like?  So stop acting.

Yawn.  I've just called my dad on the mobile telephone.  He said that he'll deal with you people when he returns home.  If you are brave enough, don't run away!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, your parents must work hard to sent you overseas.  If you don't smear Gillian anymore, I will beg my father not to arrest you and your parents,, okay?  Why don't we settle this amicably?

I'm saying this one last time.  I am very magnanimous.  If you promise not to smear Gillian anymore, I will do everything that I can to beg my dad not to make this a big deal or to arrest you and your parents.  I repeat this one more time: You parents work hard to sent you out to study, so please do not hurt them by saying ill-considered things.  Most of you are plain ignorant.  I believe that if Gillian were here, she would support my decision not to chase after you.  Big people don't mind the mistakes of small people.  This would be the best result for you.

Stop being stubborn.  I just called my dad on the mobile telephone and I told him all about this.  Frankly, I'm sorry that I told him ... when he goes into a rage, I may not be able to hold him back.  Are you pretending that you are not scared?  Actually, I know that you must be quaking in fear!!!!  Let me tell you about some insider story known only to the children of senior cadres like us (it is risky for me to say this here, but I don't mind for the sake of educating all you overseas student trash trying to smear Gillian and I just hope that it won't affect my dad's career).  At the bureau where my father works, they have a piece of equipment where if you input an IP address, it will immediately show all the information about you and your family.  You better stop what you are going, or else I will let my father use that machine to find out all about you and then ask the provincial public security bureau to issue arrest warrants for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I advise those who are using their friends' computers to log off immediately because you may be causing trouble for your friends and their families.  Nobody wants to have arrest warrants on them!  This is what you get for smearing Gillian!  In other words, I repeat once again that I am doing this for your own good!!!  My father is a senior official and he has a foul temper!!!  Please do not get him mad!!!!

Related link: Hong Kong: The Big Brother is Watching You!  Oiwan Lam, Interlocals.net

Another man has been arrested on suspicion of posting on the internet nude photos purportedly of local celebrities, as publicity surrounding the case began raising questions among the public about whether they could be prosecuted for downloading the images.  Police said they arrested a 29-year-old man, the eighth suspect arrested in the investigation, at about 4am yesterday in Ma On Shan.  They also said three men and a woman arrested last week had been released on HK$20,000 bail each.  Another two men and a woman were still being detained by police last night.

You read the above and you only have more questions: Who are these people?  How are they related to each other?  How did they come into possession of the photographs of naked artistes engaged in naughty conduct?  How did they go about distributing those photographs (13? 21?).

(Sing Pao)

According to an informed source close to the person who was the source of the photographs, several months ago Edison Chen sent his pink Apple Powerbook laptop to a Central computer shop for repairs.  The technician made the accidental discovery that there were several hundred photographs and videos of Edison Chen and/pr more than a dozen celebrities/artistes (many of whom were listed by the media and netizens as prime suspects after the first photographs of Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan and Cecilia Cheung appeared), and he downloaded them onto his own computer.

The informed source said that the technician only intended to keep the material for his own enjoyment.  Then one day he invited some friends over to his Ma On Shan apartment to play mahjong and he casually mentioned that he had some "good" stuff to show them.  When his friends saw the material, they were astonished and lobbied him to post to the Internet.  He did not want to do so himself, because he knew that Edison Chen has his contact information.  So finally a female friend agreed to undertake the task of posting onto the Internet.  That was how it happened.

Point #1: On the front page of The Sun, there was a photograph of Cecilia Cheung wearing a police uniform.  The photograph is not indecent/obscene in itself, because no naughty body parts are shown.  But this is part of the collection.  Why release it now?  Because it is now certain that the photographs are not computer modifications which smear the reputation of Cecilia Cheung.  Instead, this is a true photograph without any modification, and the truth cannot be a smear.
 
Point #2: Meanwhile, someone has set up a website that contains all the 21 previously released photographs plus several hundred computer modifications of celebrities/artistes.  The quality of the latter is pretty poor and can be immediately recognized as computer modifications.  Here is an example of Joey Yung:

Her head is in an awkward position with respect to her neck, her teeth-flashing smile is totally inappropriate to her situation and the lighting is wrong.  By comparison, a photograph such as Bobo Chan performing fellatio on Edison Chen was immensely difficult to modify on computer because there is unlikely to be an original photograph of her looking downwards with her tongue sticking out. 
 
Does my posting of this photograph cause harm to Joey Yung's reputation?  Well, this website is registered and hosted in the United States, so the Hong Kong police will have to seek the help of the FBI/Interpol on this.  Besides, why chase after me?  After all, I got this photograph from another website which has a much bigger circulation than mine and therefore has wrought much more havoc.  Would the Hong Kong police dare to do anything about that website (click here)?  No, I didn't so ...
 
Point #3: (The Sun)  Probably every newspaper in Hong Kong covered the news from Jilin province (China).  Last Friday, thirteen Jilin provincial departments including the Public Security Bureau and the provincial Supreme Court held a joint audio-visual conference about running a full campaign to purge the Internet video websites, blogs and mobile telephone services of any obscene, pornographic, vulgar and/or harmful sections, subjects and videos.  Furthermore, all forum webmasters, administrators and chatroom moderators will be registered by their real names and all forum comments must be reviewed before publication.  The Jilin public security bureau also reminded all netizens that "it is illegal to touch, view, duplicate, post, download and/or disseminate the currently popular obscene/pornographic photographs of Hong Kong artistes."

Singer-actor Edison Chen Koon-hei made a public apology yesterday to anyone affected by the distribution on the internet of nude pictures purported to show him and female celebrities and called on anyone who had copies to destroy them.

His video statement was released to the media last night as observers were predicting that complaints about indecent photographs on the internet would rise further because of what is being dubbed the "Edison Chen incident".

"I hereby use this opportunity to apologise to anyone who has been affected by this strange, strange ordeal. The lives of many innocent people have been affected by this malicious and criminal conduct. And in this regard, I'm filled with pain, hurt and frustration. I now call upon anyone to help and assist the victims of this case. If you've ever downloaded any of these images, please do not forward them to anyone. Please do not send them to anyone. If you are still in possession of these images, I urge you to please destroy them immediately. Let's help the wounded heal their wounds. I urge you to help the victims and not make it any worse."

edc: My Statement

YouTube: 陳冠希現身向受害人道歉 TVB; 陳冠希 女藝人裸照事件道歉

(SCMP)

Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Vincent Wong Fook-chuen said six women appeared in the photographs, most of which were obscene. He would not say if more than one man appeared. "We are quite confident to say that the source [of the photos] is confirmed. Someone had sent his computer for repair and the pictures [stored inside] were stolen without the consent of the owner."

Mr Wong said the probe would focus only on whether the photos were obscene articles, not on their authenticity. Four of the six women involved were publicly recognisable. Police would contact everyone who appeared in the photos but they would not necessarily have to testify in court.

"What we need to do is to prove that someone stole the data or that someone distributed obscene articles. I do not see the need for them to come to court," Mr Wong said.

Mr Wong rejected suggestions of selective police enforcement in the case, saying there was evidence that all except the suspected source had distributed the photos. He also denied that the force had allocated extra manpower to investigate this case due to the involvement of celebrities.

"This impression has been created because of the extensive media coverage and society as a whole is very concerned," Mr Wong said, adding that only 19 officers from the technology crime division had participated in the probe.

While keeping such photographs and sending them to friends was not an offence, Mr Wong said, it was illegal for anyone to upload such photos onto the Web, as cyberspace was the public domain.

Wong has overturned the comment by his boss Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing (aka Big Brother Number One) on radio last week: “Even possessing the pictures might be illegal, but of course, we will look at the numbers … The quantity might reveal the intention. It is illegal to have a lot of these pictures, as they might be used for publishing or selling. What is a lot? One hundred pictures? Two hundred pictures? I don't think it is a matter of numbers, but we also have to look at whether the number is reasonable.”

Tang’s words led to calls for his resignation because he is evidently ignorant about the existing law and therefore unqualified to lead the Hong Kong police as such. Tang did not come out to repudiate his own statements, but his underling Wong was sent out to put out the fire instead.

And now for a famous saying of the day:

(The Standard) 

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vincent Wong Fook-chuen urged anyone whose nude pictures had been posted on the internet to report to the police. "In my 20-plus years as a policeman, I have not come across such an issue," Wong said in response to questions as to why police had not acted against other obscene photos circulating on the internet.

Twenty years ago, the Internet as such did not exist and there was nothing to see. Today, the Internet is everywhere and it is hard to imagine that the Hong Kong police is unaware of nude photos on the Internet. A new website specifically directed against the Hong Kong police has more than 500 photographs of nude artistes. Granted that most of those photographs are computer modifications, but that is irrelevant because the Hong Kong police has stated that they are not interested in the authenticity of the photographs – they will handle any case of an obscene/indecent photograph, authentic or modified. 

At least six new nude photos purported to be of celebrities - including a new face - spread like viruses across the city last night, a day after police said they had traced the source of the spate of scandalous pictures that have appeared on the internet in recent days.  The pictures, sent through e-mails and internet messaging systems, were seen as a challenge to police, who said on Monday putting obscene photos on the internet, a public domain, was an offence but sending them to friends was not.

The new photos included three graphic images purportedly of Gillian Chung Yan-tung of girl duo Twins, actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi and former actress Bobo Chan Man-woon - all of whom have been rumoured to be romantically linked to singer-actor Edison Chen Koon-hei. Another photograph was of a woman who could not be identified. All the pictures included a man whose face was not revealed.  Also included were two solo shots of a partially-dressed woman who looked like former singer Chiu Chung-yue, whose photographs had not been circulated previously.

Apple Daily and Oriental Daily characterized this action as the shaving of the eyebrow of the police, while The Sun said that it was a slap in the face.
 

Assistant Commissioner of Police Vincent Wong had remarked publicly yesterday that it is not against the law to share these photographs with ‘friends’ but it is illegal to publish the photographs on the Internet such that strangers can view them. This leaves open the question of the meaning of ‘friendship’ in the Internet era. In the real world, a ‘friend’ is someone whom you have met, spoken with and/or corresponded with. In the virtual world of the Internet, an Internet friend may be someone whom you have never met and you have never spoken with; you may not know the name of the person (except as a nickname such as “the cat which doesn’t cry” or “the senior cadre’s little daughter” or “cgx200801”); and so on. So does such an Internet ‘friend’ satisfy Vincent Wong’s requirement?

One proposed model for future distribution of the photographs is for people to signal an offer and then require an email address to send to. If photographs are sent to an email address, then this can be taken to be a friendly gesture to another person who has just reciprocated on an offer of friendship. In other words, this is a ‘friend.’

Alternately, another set of faithful believers began to draw an analogy with the Japanese manga/anime/movie <Death Notebook>. In that classical story, a vigilante nicknamed “Kira” was killing off criminals by writing their names into the magical “death notebook.” Eventually the police arrested him and held him under maximum security detention. Everybody assumed that the killing would stop. But suddenly, another “Kira” surfaced and continued the murder spree using a second “death notebook.”  So if the original “Kira” of this case has now been apprehended by the Hong Kong police, will the second “Kira” emerge to continue the cause?

Then beginning midnight, compressed archived files containing photographs were suddenly being routed around in email as well as peer-to-peer sharing services such as Foxy. These alternate methods were used because the Hong Kong discussion forums will no longer post information about those photographs due to legal concerns. After a while, unknown persons posted the photographs at overseas pornographic websites and published the links at overseas Chinese-language forums. These overseas websites are beyond the reach of the Hong Kong police.  During the process, the keyword ‘251’ became part of folklore as the shorthand term for the number of photographs in the current collection (as in, "Do you have 251?" "Desperately seeking 251").

What was in this latest batch? More photographs of Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan and Cecilia Cheung. The quantity and quality of the photographs were incredibly damaging.  It is hard to imagine what how Gillian Chung could face the public again, or Bobo Chan’s planned marriage next year would take place, or Nicholas Tse would remain married to Cecilia Cheung. There are also photographs of three more entertainers (Candice Chan, Rachel Ngan, Mandy Chan) who were hardly known to the general public before this but are now household names. Their names are probably now among the top ten most popular search engine terms. In the evening, the rumor was that there is now a 600+ collection of photographs plus a 13-minute video out there.  That turned out not to be true.

For the tenth day in a row, the Edison Chen photographs were featured on the front page of the major Hong Kong newspapers:

When the new batch of photographs appeared yesterday, there were three folders containing photographs of females identified only as Unknown 1, Unknown 2 and Unknown 3.  These were initially identified as Candice Chen, Cathy Leung and Rachel Ngan.  These three minor starlets suddenly became objects of interest.  When Cathy Leung was contacted, she said that she had never met Edison Chen in her life and there was no reason to disbelieve a definitive statement like that.  Further investigation pointed that the person was really Mandy Chan, a former Miss Chinese contestant.  Reporters have so far tracked down Mandy Chan as having married, immigrated to Brisbane (Australia) and is running a beauty salon.  Where did the information come from?  Facebook.

(The Sun)  

According to the Hong Kong police, the photographs have spread across computer servers all over the world, thus making this a "globalized" affair.  About 70% to 80% of the servers are in the United States, with the rest in places such as Germany, Australia and so on.  There does not appear to be anything that the Hong Kong police can do.  Meanwhile, netizens are boasting that they will continue to distribute more bedroom photographs and hyperilnks to "friends."

Why can't the Hong Kong police get to these overseas servers?  Because the activity of posting pornography at these specialized websites is not against local laws.  In fact, these websites exist precisely in order to distribute pornography.  As such, the Hong Kong police cannot request the FBI or other local law enforcement agencies to take action solely on the basis of distribution of pornographic materials in Hong Kong.  Instead, they would need other causes (such as the photographs being purloined).  But they do not have any other probable cause at this time.  This is not exactly a new insight, because freedom of speech/expression is guaranteed in the United States and covers politics as well as pornography.  If there is such a thing as a ring of overseas websites for Chinese political dissidence, why shouldn't there be a ring of overseas websites for Chinese pornography?

But the story is not so straightforward, because of "one country, two systems."  In Hong Kong, political dissidence is very much protected as anyone can tell by the booths around the major tourist spots (such as Star Ferry, the Wong Tai Sin Temple, etc).  However, pornography will be hunted down by the Hong Kong police, Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority and the Obscene Articles Tribunal.  In mainland China, political dissidence is very much out of bounds.  However, the Edison Chen photographs are posted in full at major Chinese website portals (note: I won't provide a link here but I must say that I was truly astonished when I reached one such photo album at NetEase.  And it was not a netizen posting it without the knowledge of the forum master, because it was a catalogued sub-directory created solely for these photographs.).  In summary: in Hong Kong, YES for political dissidence but NO for pornography; in mainland China, NO for political dissidence and YES for pornography.
 
So how is this "one country, two systems" thing going to work?  What will happen in 2047 when the two systems are supposed to have converged?

(evchk.wikia.com)  This linked wiki page contains the most extensive coverage of the Edison Chen photograph collection.  Here is the translation of the section about the HK Golden Forum:

While the other large discussion forums such as Uwants and Discuss.com.hk were deleting all related posts, HK Golden Forum continued to have a laissez-faire policy that deleted only direct postings using the [img] to show the photographs.  Everything else goes (including hyperlinks).  As a result, large numbers of curious netizens rushed over to HK Golden Forum to find the latest news and photographs.

On January 2008, "HK Golden" became the third most popular search term at Yahoo! Hong Kong, just after the principal characters Edison Chen and Gillian Chung.  Thus, HK Golden was the most popular forum, ahead of Uwants and Discuss.com.hk, which had been more restricted.

HK Golden is organized into Forum1 and Forum2 for administrative reasons.  During this period, there was a time when Forum 1 and Forum 2 had more than 100,000 and 150,000 users at the same time.  This caused massive jams, delays and crashes.

In order to alleviate the server loads, the HK Golden resident netizens began to use creative approaches to reduce traffic.  For example, there was a rash of June 4th 1989-related posts around the time, because the posters thought that this could cause HK Golden Forum to be blocked by the Great Firewall of China.  On January 30, some of them also wrote that no photographs were going to appear that day; or even if it happened, it would not, HK Golden would not the first to do so; and besides, elementary/middle school children and mainland netizens should not be there anyway.

On the afternoon of January 31, 2008, certain HK Golden members predicted the website will shut down due to traffic overload.  On that evening, the 'lights went out' at Forum 1.  Forums 2 and 3 struggle on with occasional freezes.

As an important technology/current affairs discussion forum, HK Golden forum began on February 2, 2008 to organize a resistance movement along with the other major forums.  The activities include raising money for advertisements and demonstration marches.  The main purpose is to protest the double standards in police actions, oppose the injustice of the judiciary and express dissatisfaction with the entertainment artistes.
 
This affair is like the Article 23 episode.  The incident itself was just a trigger that released the repressed discontent of the netizens.

At the smaller HK Galden Forum, visitors are now required to register.  But the registration form includes the following option at the bottom: "I am willing to receive any electronic publication from the DJY Peope's Electronic Newspaper."  This is just a device to scare away mainlanders who don't know what the forum is really about.

Related Link: Hong Kong: From Sex to Police Scandal  Oiwan Lam, Global Voices Online

Ever since the Edison Chen photographs appeared, a bellwether was a Tianya forum post in the Entertainment Gossip section.  After about ten days, that page had accumulated more than 10 million pageviews and tens of thousands of comments covering more than 600 pages.  That forum post did not contain any of the photographs, but people were posting the hyperlinks.  Then suddenly the page was gone ("PAGE DOES NOT EXIST" message took its place).  Irate Tianya forum users vowed avenge against the forum master by launching a massive garbage-posting campaign to overwhelm the Entertainment Gossip section.  Here is the response from the forum master:

[in translation]

(February 8, 2008, 20:13:00)

I just received the news that the post had been deleted.  I was totally unaware of it.  The forum master did not receive any notice.  Afterwards, we checked the operational log and the field for the operator was blank.  We could not even find out who deleted the page!

This was a 'tall building'' with more than 600 'floors', and it was deleted without even a hello!  This forum master refuses to accept the blame!

I have raised hell within the organization.  I have decided to go against the operational rules and restore this post.  I may lose my job as forum master, but I will seek justice for the Entertainment Gossip section.

Going against the rules will get me fired.  But as long as I hold this job, I will protect that post.  If Tianya should fire me, I will just have to say sorry to everybody.

Meanwhile, at 1:56:00 February 9, 2008, Tianya user heyaohui wrote about the HK Golden Forum:

[in translation]

I read some of their posts and I was displeased.  I also learned that their forum master turned over user information to the Hong Kong police who effected some arrests.  This is too fucking harmonious and immoral.  I can't stand it.

My sense of justice and responsibility rose and I would like to call for a group of sex-obsessed warriors of the motherland to "liberate" them and bring the light of dawn for freedom and democracy in Hong Kong!

Based upon my preliminary estimate, there are usually only several hundred people online at the HK Golden Forum.  If we can get 1,000 people to assault them, we can break them down!

So I want us to go to the HK Golden Forum at midnight tonight.  It is going to be fun.  Anyone who wants to do that should leave their name here ...

ORZ, is this idea too crazy?

It is uncertain just what happened after midnight.  It would appear that HK Golden Forum1 had gone down at one point, but Forum2 and Forum3 were holding up.  In any case, the point was moot because all attention was turned to the 170 new photographs of Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung and Vincy Yeung.

The Vincy Yeung angle is covered in this third story, which is partially fictional but contains certain known facts.

In Hong Kong, there are two artiste agencies -- Emperor Entertainment (headed by Albert Yeung) and China Star Entertainment (headed by Charles and Jimmy Heung).  Both companies have triad backgrounds.

In the Edison Chen photographs affair, everyone can see that it was aimed at Emperor Entertainment and Albert Yeung.
 
Who is Edison Chen?
A. A popular singer+movie star idol
B. The proprietor of a small clothing shop
C. The bedfellow of Gillian Chung, Cecilia Chung, Bobo Chan, etc.
D. The son of a wealthy businessman
E. The boyfriend of Vincy Yeung, the niece of Albert Yeung
F. All of the above.
 
You don't need me to tell you the answer.  Of all the identities, D. and E. are most likely to be related to this affair.  "Kira" began with the release of photographs of Emperor Entertainment's Gillian Chung and China Star Entertainment traitor Cecilia Cheung.  It is for certain that many people would think that China Star Entertainment is a likely suspect here.

... When the Edison Chen photographs came out, the Emperor Entertainment Group and the Hong Kong police were in disarray and the entire Hong Kong underworld was shaken up.  A newspaper reported that the reward for capturing "Kira" was as much as HKD 3 million ...

Given that many people believe that Albert Yeung is involved in triad activities, it is no wonder that as soon as the nude Vincy Yeung photographs appeared, they would be asking: Is Albert Yeung going to 'fix' "Kira", Edison Chen and/or the Heungs?

This is a recount of some of the reporting/commentary at Sing Tao/Headline Daily.
 
(Dukedom of Aberdeen)  Headilne Daily:

互聯網討論區前日出現兩張色情照片，驟眼看來與鍾欣桐和陳文媛十分相似，兩張照片中的兩名女子均與疑似藝人陳冠希有猥褻的行為，其中貌似「阿嬌」者躺在床上，張開雙腳，圖片左上角出現一名男子，貌似藝人陳冠希。另一圖片則是「陳文媛」和「陳冠希」，正在發生性行為，但明眼人一看，已斷定是經移花接木製作的圖片。

On the day before yesterday, two pornographic photographs appeared at the Internet discussion forums.  At first sight, the two female resembled Gillian Chung and Bobo Chan and they were engaged in obscene activities with a man who appeared to resemble Edison Chen.  The person who resembled Gillian Chung was lying on a bed with her legs split apart and the man at the top left corner of the photograph resembled Edison Chen.  In the other photograph, the persons who resembled Bobo Chan and Edison Chen were engaged in a sexual act.  But clear-eyed people can determine immediately that these photographs are computer modifications.

As more photographs appeared, the theory of computer modification became untenable.  The photographs were real, but where did they come from?  The Sing Tao commentator Cha Siu Yan then wrote (via Yahoo! Hong Kong):

一個版本是指陳冠希將手提電腦交人維修，有人乘機盜取了絕密照片放上網，如此有可尋，警察早已拉人封鋪破了案。
 
別說陳冠希，在下家中電腦故障，也有專人上門維修，貴為CEO的陳冠希公司沒有技術支援人員，也不至像中學生般，提電腦落MK或黃金修理吧，此說可信度極低。
 
第二個版本是有人拾獲手機，發現內藏超友誼照，名副其實的「執到」。作為一個整天有狗仔隊亦步亦趨的惹火藝人，身懷激照，豈不是挑戰自己的運氣？
 
相信以上任何一個版本都是侮辱智商，不如將層次推高，稱是有少年黑客黑入陳冠希電腦或其Facebook盜取激照，可信度會提高點。

According to one version, Edison Chen handed his computer over for repairs and someone copied the top secret photographs and then posted them on the Internet.  This would leave a track and if this were true, the police would have arrested the person, searched the store and solved the case.

If Edison Chen had a computer problem at home, someone would have come over to his house to fix the machine.  As a CEO, Edison Chen could not be like a middle-school student bringing his computer down to Mongkok or Golden Shopping Centre for repairs.  This version has very low credibility.

The second version was that someone found a mobile telephone with those photographs.  As a popular star who is pursued by paparazzi all the time, he must be tempting fate by carrying a mobile telephone with these photographs of passion.

I believe that both of these two versions insult our intelligence.  One is better off going to a higher level and claiming that some young hacker broke into Edison Chen's computer or Facebook to steal the photographs.  That would be more credible.

It would turn out that the police would later raid a computer store, arrest a former employee and charge him with distribution of obscene articles.  Even more interestingly, Apple Daily (via Wenxue City) asserted that Edison Chen had taken his computer (nicknamed Cotton Candy Mac) to another computer store for repairs.  So much for the young CEO and his intelligence quotient.

About this development, Sing Tao reported (via Yahoo! Hong Kong)

據知，陳已把電腦內的機密檔案加以上鎖，倘證實有人藉修理電腦，擅自以高超技術攻破密碼，從而抄錄資料流出相片，全部人即屬違法。

According to information, Edison CHen had encypted the confidential folders in his computer.  If someone had employed high technology to break the encryption to extract the photographs during the process of computer repair, then all those involved have broken the law.

There is no hint as to where that 'information' about the encryption came from, since Edison Chen is away from Hong Kong right now and not taking interviews.  Sing Tao is the only Hong Kong newspaper that has this story.

How hard did Sing Tao/Headline Daily try to assist the artistes?  On February 4, 2008, the Sing Tao News Group paid for an advertisement themselves to support the "victimized female stars."

Little Oslo quotes a friend: "A clear-eyed person can determine with one glance that this is an announcement that is like getting rich off dead people."

That does not mean that Sing Tao/Headline Daily are unreadable for the story about Edison Chen's photographs.  On the contrary, they are compulsory daily reads because you never know what surprises they have in store for you.

Between 3am in the morning to 11:45pm at night, a total of 221 new photographs appeared on the Internet.  Four female were involved.  Three of them had previously been involved: Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung and Bobo Chan.  The fourth and new person appears to be Vincy Yeung, the current girlfriend of Edison Chen and the niece of Emperor Entertainment Group chief Albert Yeung.

Vincy Yeung would be the seventh female in the Edison Chen photo collection.  Previously, Hong Kong Assistant Commission of Police Wong Fook-chun had said that there were only six females among the 1,300+ photographs.

(The Sun)

When the photos first began to appear, the mainland Chinese forum Tianya gained the reputation as one of the principal assembly points for information on new photographs.  Hundreds of thousands of netizens gathered at the special Tianya section, and it accumulated more than 20 million page views.  As a result of the high profile, the Tianya forum drew the attention of mainland authorities.  However, the proliferation of information was not just restricted to this one forum alone.
 
According to information, the Guangdong provincial public security bureau brought in more than one hundred Internet police officers during the Lunar New Year period to monitor and stop the circulation of the photographs.  But this was apparently futile, because one Internet police officer said:  We have to monitor thousands of websites.  Even if we don't sleep or rest, it is hard to stop the re-posting of the photographs."
 
On the Lunar New Year's Eve, more than 200 photos appeared.  This made all those mainland Chinese websites that carried them quite popular.  On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the special section at Tianya was deleted for a period of two hours, and this drew a huge response from netizens.  The section was restored.  Then early yesterday, several hundred more photographs were released and they were even more explicit.  This caused the special section at Tianya to be deleted for a second time.  Although it has now been 'revived,' some netizens are finding it hard to post comments.
 
According to a source with the Guangdong provincial public security bureau, they are monitoring the developments carefully because they are afraid that the actions of certain Hong Kong netizens (such as the demonstration march) may be "infectious" to the mainland netizens.

(Apple Daily)

The seventh person in this series of photographs is Vincy Yeung, the current girl friend of Edison Chen.  There are three photographs of her in the shower.  According to Edison Chen's own statement on a television program, his romance with Vincy Yeung began in 2004.  At the time, Vincy was still a high school student and may not yet be 16 years yet.  This means that anyone who posts the photos of Vincy Yeung runs the risk of breaking the child pornography laws and the consequences are much more severe than distribution of obscene/indecent materials.

(Apple Daily)

While the Hong Kong police are searching for the person responsible for distributing the obscene photographs of the artistes, the netizens have adapted by changing their method for distributing and obtaining those photographs.  The preferred method is via the peer-to-peer software FOXY.  A FOXY user simply designated certain files on the computer to be shared and then everybody can immediately download/upload.  This meant that a huge number of people will have the files.

Previously, the Hong Kong police were successfully in the prosecution of an individual for intellectual property rights violation via the BitTorrent software, which is another peer-to-peer method.  However, under BitTorrent, the initial person must place a 'seed' on the Internet so that other users can follow up to download/upload.  Thus, the police can find the source who produced the seed.  FOXY is different because a seed is not required.  This makes it hard to find the source.

(Ming Pao)

Gillian Chung will emerge to face the public tomorrow.  When the photos first appeared, the Emperor Entertainment Group had filed a police report.  EEG also told the press that the photos were computer modifications.  When more photos appeared, EEG said that they will make no further comment because the matter is presently in the hands of the police.

According to an experienced public relations consultant, Gillian Chung will have to face the public eventually unless she intends to retire completely from the entertainment field.  The case is 'hot' now, so the media will be 'hostile.'  Therefore, it is best that Gillian Chung makes "a public appearance without taking any questions from the media."  On one hand, she can control the situation.  On the other hand, this will communicate that she is back to work. As to when Gillian Chung will actually speak out on this affair, it will depend on the public reaction to this appearance.

This public relations consultant also advised that if the photos were not computer modifications, then Gillian Chung should adopt the role of "victim."  "This is a private matter between him and her.  Just like everyone else, she may have some intimate photos taken and she never thought that these photos would be shown in public.  Outsiders cannot judge her.  So this should not impact her image.

But if she continues to deny that the photos are real, there will be a blowback.  For example, Britney Spears "insisted that she was a virgin while the paparazzi kept showing her drunk with her many boyfriends.  As a result, her image took a dive."

(SCMP)

About 300 internet users marched to police headquarters in Wan Chai yesterday to protest against the force's handling of the case of nude photos purported to be of local celebrities.  They urged the police to apologise and immediately release Chung Yik-tin, who was denied bail on January 31 and has since then been held at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre.   He was the first person arrested in the case and was charged for distributing one photo and possessing 12 obscene photos.

The organisers also complained of police double standards in dealing with the case because it involved local celebrities.   "There are lots of obscene images on the internet but the police do nothing about them. As soon as there are images involving actors and actresses the police monitor the internet around the clock.

(The Sun)

Yesterday in Shuiwei (Futian district, Shenzhen city), our reporter observed people selling laser discs containing the obscene photographs of Hong Kong artistes.  Previously, people have only read about these photographs in the newspapers.  Yesterday, a video store was showing them on television.  A crowd of gawkers were drawn in.  According to the salesperson, each disk contains 258 photographs.  Priced at HKD 20 apiece, the reporter observed that a stack of 30 discs were quickly sold out in less than an hour.  The video store also offered to download the photos onto mobile telephones for HKD 10.

Under Chinese law, it is illegal to manufacture and sell such discs.  If found guilty, the offender faces between three to seven years in jail.  But it is not a crime to purchase such discs or share them among friends.

(The Sun)  (987 Hong Kong residents age 18 or older were interviewed by telephone)

Q1.  Concerning the Edison Chen photographs, the police took high-profiled action, with Commissioner Tang King-shing even doing a media interview.  Why?
19%: Tang King-shing wanted to claim credit and show that he can accomplish things
11%: The police usually ignore such cases, so they are trying to make up for it
48%: The police are working extra-hard because artistes are involved in this case
15%: There is nothing wrong with what the police are doing
  7%: No opinion
 
Q2. The police investigated and solved the case quickly.  However, they have been slow to handle similar complaints from other citizens as well as the case of the auxiliary police officer posting his own nude photos on the Internet.  What does this show?
31%: The police have no standards.  They are selectively enforcing the law.
21%: The police think that artistes are more important than ordinary citizens
32%: The police will work actively only when the public is paying attention
  9%: There is nothing wrong with what the police are doing
  7%: No opinion
 
Q3. In responding to the charge of selective law enforcement, senior police officials said that the police will make a thorough investigation each time that someone files a case report.  What do you think?
27%: That is just standard fluff used for the media
38%: The police will evaluate the standing of the complainant before deciding how to proceed with the investigation
15%: The police usually sets up a case, but they will not conduct a serious investigation
11%: The police treats everyone equally
  9%: No opinion
 
Q4. Commissioner Tang King-shing said that a citizen could be violating the law just by possession of obscene photographs.  Then the police changed their tune and said that possession is not illegal.  What do you think about the police statements?
18%: Tang King-shing did not have the right information
30%: The police were contradicting themselves and causing confusion
38%: The police don't know the laws themselves, and this means citizens can be trapped
  6%: There is nothing wrong with what the police were saying
  8%: No opinion
 
Q5. The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority will only follow up on pornographic information on the Internet if they receive a complaint.  What does this show?
23%: The authorities don't care about Internet pornography and thus abet the spread of immoral materials
27%: The government has not intention of stopping pornography on the Internet
25%: The officials are lazy and want to do less work
11%: There is nothing wrong with what the government is doing
14%: No opinion
 
Q6. Pornography is overflowing on the Internet.  Which government official is most responsible?
14%: Chief Executive Donald Tsang
14%: Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing
32%: Commissioner of the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority Maisie Cheng
19%: No government official is responsible
21%: No opinion

(Those Were The Days blog)

Over the Lunar New Year holidays, hundreds of photographs were posted on the Internet, including the non-entertainment-industry girlfriend of the principal male character.  Previously, the Hong Kong police had asked netizens and Internet Service Providers to cooperate by not distributing, uploading or forwarding these photographs.  Over the past three days, it seems that no netizen dared to upload photographs or publish hyperlinks at the various large discussion forums.  However, they continued to use email and MSN to forward the photographs.  To a certain degree, the situation in Hong Kong can be said to be "under control."  The "disaster area" is not Hong Kong, but elsewhere on the Internet and especially the mainland discussion forums.  The mainland Chinese netizens have coined a term for this affair: 艷照門 ("Sexy photos gate").  They have also been posting the photos on overseas file sharing sites for others to download.  Some mainland Chinese netizens have uploaded those photos onto their own private photo albums which they put under password protection; then they let others publish the password so that they become "victims" themselves and therefore not culpable!

Even more insane are the people who trying to sell the photographs for sale on the Taobao website at an asking price of 4.80 RMB per photo!  At discussion forums in Japan, South Korea, USA and Canada, these photos are publicly posted at the discussion forums and blogs.

In an Internet, it is not possible to use traditional wisdom to solve the problems caused by 21st century technology.  A friend in the information technology field said that it will be impossible to ban these photos.  Even if the Internet has the same level of freedom on mainland China, this could not be stopped.  The "disaster area" right now is mainland China.  So unless freedom on the Internet in Hong Kong becomes even more restricted than on mainland China (namely, all information uploaded onto the Internet must be inspected by the government beforehand), such cases cannot be stopped.  Besides, that would only be relevant to Hong Kong websites.  But what about the overseas and mainland Chinese websites?  Will Hong Kong citizens be banned from visiting them?  The friend said: "That would be even worse than mainland China and down to the level of North Korea?  So how can Hong Kong be an international financial center when it does not even have freedom of information on the Internet!"

Apart from the issue of Internet freedom, it is also worth discussing the broad coverage of the private lives of artistes by the traditional as well as new media.  Certain moralists think that the broad coverage is an invasion of the privacy of these artistes.  Other people think that the artistes are public figures and are therefore not entitled to privacy in the sense of presenting one set of moral standards to the public while practicing another set in their private lives.

The Gillian Chung Press Conference  (02/11/2008) 

For the first time since the Edison Chen photographs appeared on the Internet, Gillian Chung made a public appearance before the press.  She made a statement but did not take any questions.

(Ming Pao)  Gillian Chung began by saying Happy New Year to those present.  She said that this incident has caused great distress and hurt to herself and those around her.  She admitted to being very naïve and very stupid before, but she has now grown up.  She expressed her gratitude towards the company, her family and her friends for their concern and support.  She apologized for the effect of the affair on society at large.  In the future, she will continue to work hard and live actively.  Finally, she thanked the media for their concern and the fans who never abandoned her.
 
Did anyone coach her on the script?  How can she say that she had been "very naïve, very stupid" (很天真,很傻) before?  This phrase is likely to become the second Internet pop phrase of the year.  She can use any other words to express the same idea, but not with two "very's."  This is because the first Internet pop phrase of the year was  the now famous "Very Yellow, Very Violent".  How can anyone fail to draw that analogy?
 

 
The Internet forum response has been quite negative.  Throughout her statement, there was no description of what the affair was about.  The netizens did not take kindly towards her description of being "very naïve, very stupid."  People pointed to the KY jelly in the background of one of her photographs and asked: "If she had been 'very naïve, very stupid' at the time when she was using KY jelly in a hotel room, then what is she doing now that she has grown up?"
 

 
Why is the Internet forum public so hostile towards Gillian Chung this time?  When photographs of her changing in the dressing room appeared in EasyFinder magazine in August 2006, the public was overwhelmingly on her side.  But the tide appeared to have swung the other way around.  One reason was that her company Emperor Entertainment Group had claimed initially that the photographs were computer modifications.  When more photographs appeared, EEG went silent and refused to comment on the grounds that there was an ongoing police investigation.  Even at today's press conference, EEG stated that the company and all its artistes will decline comment in the future in the interest of not causing more social harm.  The Internet forum users consider Gillian Chung and EEG evasive.
 
The more significant reason is captured in this comment by the Those Were The Days blogger:

The privacy of an artiste is clearly different from that of a public servant.  The private life of a public servant may affect his job performance.  For example, when a politician cheats on his wife, the public may begin to doubt his character.  Therefore, the public and the media have cause to be concerned about the private lives of public figures.  Meanwhile, the artistes only have to be concerned about their singing and acting, because their private lives do not affect their job performance.  The public and the media should not be exposing and judging the private lives of artistes.

That might be correct in general, but things are different in Hong Kong.  European and American artistes are selling their singing/acting abilities and not their moral conduct and character.  I have not seen any European and American artistes who would leverage positions on pre-marital sex, chastity and multiple sex partners to package their images.  European and American artistes, especially those in rock 'n roll music, are notorious for being licentious and involved in drug abuse.  But they don't need to disguise that because they are selling their singing and not any saintly image.

In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, some artistes have become upholders of morality.  They criticize the media for being very yellow and very violent; they preach morality; they say that this or that magazine should not have published something or the other because corrupts young people; they describe themselves as clean, self-respecting and pure beyond belief.  In recent years, the government likes to appoint these artistes as their youth ambassadors on account of their influence among young people.  So these artistes are happily shaking hands with Donald Tsang or participating in a national day gala festival in Beijing.  Do they realize that they are longer just artistes anymore?  If they want to be pure artistes, then they should not be staking out moral positions, or acting as government spokespersons, or engaging in politics.  If they do so, they must be prepared to sacrifice their privacy and restrict their own private lives because they are now public figures.  For example, if an American movie star supports the Republican Party, then the fact that she once had an abortion cannot be just waved away as a "private matter."

In this affair, the citizens and netizens are reacting strongly because certain artistes have been behaving as more than artistes.  They are using every means to criticize any negative information and reports about them.  They are setting themselves at the highest moral point in order to criticize everybody else as immoral.  Why else would the citizens and netizens call the artistes (藝人) as fake people (偽人)?

A while ago, the former wife of a hairdresser wrote a book that exposed the private affair between her husband and an actress.  But the media and the public showed no interest and the story could not even make the local news page.  Why?  Because the actress was just an artiste!  Who cares about her private life?  If you don't live in Hong Kong, if you don't understand popular sentiments in Hong Kong and if you don't know what has been happening before this, you cannot understand why people feel this way now about this affair.

In August 2006, EasyFinder published photographs of Gillian Chung changing her clothes in a dressing room.  In the ensuing press conference, Gillian Chung spoke of wanting to die and never being able to face young people again.  The photographs back then revealed nothing except her armpit.  At today's press conference, Gillian Chung was beaming with confidence.  The photographs now revealed just about everything of her.  It is hard not to notice the incongruence.
 
 

YouTube Link:  阿嬌露面見歌迷;  鍾欣桐裸照記者會

Day 15 (02/12/2008)

Gillian does not have any tears

Gillian: Honest disclosure

Gillian very brave

I was very naive, very silly

Gillian admits to having obscene photos taken

For the fifteenth day in a row, "Sex Photos Gate" was on the front pages of the three major Hong Kong.  I don't know about a historical record as such, but the last time when such a string was compiled was during the SARS episode when people were dying.  For example, here are the Apple Daily headlines from April 9 to April 18, 2003.  This was an 8-day run for the SARS episode.

April 09: Leslie Cheung's funeral
April 10: Malaysia bars visitors from Hong Kong
April 11: An entire family was quarantined for 10 days because one member caught SARS
April 12: Airport begins to test body temperatures
April 13: Cathay Pacific may stop flying
April 14: Five dead in one day
April 15: Seven more lives lost
April 16: What is the Chief Executive doing?
April 17: The Chief Executive wants students to go back to school
April 18: Shenzhen family eaten alive

(SCMP)

Canto-pop star Gillian Chung Yan-tung, seen repeatedly on the internet in celebrity sex pictures that have shocked the entertainment world in the past two weeks, apologised to the public yesterday for being "silly" and "naive".

Still not admitting directly that the pictures were actually of her, the singer said at a press conference in front of a group of screaming fans: "The incident has caused lots of frustration and damage to people surrounding me and myself. I admit that I was too naive and silly but now I have grown up."

Putting on a brave face and mustering a smile yesterday during her one-minute appearance at a Wan Chai restaurant, Chung opened by saying: "Hello everybody! Happy New Year. I feel deeply sorry for the impact and influence that event has brought to society and the public. In the future, I will continue working hard and take my life positively."  Without answering any questions, she thanked the media and her fans before walking out hand-in-hand with Choi as fans chanted: "We support you! We support you!"

Chung's record company, Emperor Entertainment Group, said in a statement on January 28 that Chung's face had been put on another woman's body by computer. Asked yesterday why it had made that statement, it replied: "No comment."  Mani Fok Man-hei, Chung's manager, said the affair had hurt many people and none of the company's artists would comment further.

(Apple Daily)

Almost 300 reporters showed up for the Gillian Chung press conference at the restaurant in the Emperor Group Centre.  The dozen or so security guards were clearly overwhelmed.  A foreign reporter kept saying: "Bad arrangment."

(Apple Daily)  654 persons were interviewed by automated telephone.

Q1.  After Gillian Chung addressed the issue of the sexy photos, how did your impression change?
27%: For the better
33%: For the worse
39%: Unchanged

Q2. After the sex gate photos, do you believe that Gillian Chung should stay in the field of entertainment?
37%: Yes
34%: No
22%: Don't know/no opinion

The Biggest Lesson of "Sex Photos Gate" is the Exposure of Hypocrisy (02/12/2008)  (Li Yi at Apple Daily)

So Gillian Chung finally emerged to face the media and the public.  She had to come out sooner or later because she does not want to give up her artist career and her company does not want to abandon a goose that lays golden eggs.  She said that she was very naïve and very silly, but now she has grown up.  In those few short sentences, she did not admit to any mistakes but she has practically admitted that the photographs were not the product of computer modification.

In truth, Gillian Chung had not been very naïve and she was not silly.  Her image of an innocent little angel was posed.  Two years ago, she cried publicly after the EasyFinder photos and said that she could not face up to young people who idolize her.  Another time, she saw Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse kissing and she said that she was disgusted and that she would never do that.  She attended the <Chaste School Campus Inauguration> organized by the City of David Cultural Centre and stated clearly that she opposed pre-marital sex.  While she was saying those words in 2006, she was also posing for those obscene photographs.  In a comment left at Apple Daily, someone wrote: "We despise you not for your licentiousness, but for your hypocrisy."

This gets right to the point.  In truth, Gillian Chung is not the only hypocrite.  Her company Emperor Entertainment Group was also hypocritical.  On the first obscene  photographs appeared, EEG announced that these photographs were manufactured by "criminal elements" using "computer modification" and they filed a police report immediately.  The Performance Artists Association was also hypocritical.  During the EasyFinder episode, the Association was up at arms.  In the face of these obscene photographs, the Association only said that "this was not just sad for the entertainment industry, but for all of the people of Hong Kong as well."  The performance artists may be sad because they are afraid their own private affairs will also be revealed, but what has the majority of the people of Hong Kong got to be sad about?  Why is there any need for the people of Hong Kong to be sad over the sorrows of a few individual entertainers?

The police were also hypocritical.  Before the Obscene Articles Tribunal even made any classifications, the police arrested netizen Chung Yik-tin for posting one obscene photograph and remanded him without bail for eight weeks.  This was clearly a case that the police was using to intimidate netizens from circulating the obscene photographs, but they claimed that Chung was involved in another fraud case.  It is unprecedented for someone to be held without bail on two unrelated cases.  This is the hypocrisy of law enforcement.  Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing rendered an "interpretation of the law" when he claimed that possession of obscene photographs "with intent to distribute" is against the law.  It was clear that the police wanted to intimidate people.

The hypocrisy of the police also showed up in that they knew that the obscene photographs originated from the computer of Edison Chen, but they still kept looking for the 'source' everywhere.  Why not summon Edison Chen directly for interrogation and ask for an accounting to see if the photographs were taken secretly or with consent?  To whom were the obscene photographs given to?  How did it circulate to the outside?  They knew where the source was but they didn't bother.  Instead they went around arresting people all over the street.  This showed that the police was unfair and hypocritical in enforcing the law.

Some of the media were also hypocritical.  They raised the banner of morality.  They condemned those who possess and view the obscene photographs.  They even condemned the other media which reported on these obscene photographs for publishing edited versions.  The exposure of the truth should be the duty of the media.  It is especially important to expose the true faces of performance artists who pretend that they are morally upright or innocent little angels, so that the fans won't be fooled.

The storm over these obscene photographs revealed all sorts of hypocrisies.  This may be the reason why "Kira" released more photographs each time that another hypocrisy was committed, including escalating the degree of obscenity.  The storm over these obscene photographs tell us that some people think that they can do anything or tell any lies as long as they close the door and leave no material evidence (such as photographs) behind.

What is hypocrisy?  In law, this refers to acts or speeches that present a narrative that is inconsistent with the facts.  In plain words, this refers to certain misleading or deceptive narratives.  The series of hypocritical acts and speeches brought up by the obscene photographs lets people feel that Hong Kong has become a city of hypocrisy.

Fortunately, there are still some media that are awake and insistent on uncovering the truth.  Fortunately, there are still the netizens, especially those who protested against the hypocritical police on the day before yesterday.

In checking the front page headlines yesterday, I saw a clear divergence of intent and purpose.

The Hong Kong Apple Daily headline was "Gillian did not shed any tears"
 

The Taiwan Apple Daily headline was "Gillian admits to having obscene photos taken" with a collage of those photographs.
 
Clearly, Apple Daily (and the parent Next Media) wants Gillian Chung dead and buried.  This was likely a payback for the EasyFinder episode (see Comment 200608#083).  Back in 2006, EasyFinder published some photos of Gillian Chung changing clothes in a dressing room during a show in Malaysia.  In the aftermath, Gillian Chung said that she wanted to die and she did not know how to ever face her youthful fans again.  Hundreds of members of the Hong  Kong Performance Artists Association turned out to support her.  Eventually EasyFinder magazine went down and was re-incarnated as Face magazine.  So it is no surprise that Face magazine and all its sister Next Media publications (including Apple Daily and Next Magazine) would go after Gillian Chung with a vengeance.
 
 
Meanwhile, Oriental Daily and The Sun said "Gillian made a sincere explanation" and "Gillian was courageous."
 
But more interestingly, what is Oriental Sunday magazine publishing:?  After all, this magazine is considered to be a propaganda tool for the Emperor Entertainment Group to which Gillian Chung is contracted.  Here are the scanned images from the latest issue.
 

 
While one can argue about why Cecilia Cheung got 1-1/2 pages, Bobo Chan got 1 page and Gillian Chung got 1/2 page, one cannot say that Oriental Sunday tried to gloss over the role of Gillian Chung.  As much as this is against the interests of Emperor Entertainment Group, Oriental Sunday would lose all credibility if they went out of their way to protect Gillian Chung.
 
These scanned pages from Oriental Sunday highlight another aspect of 'one country, two systems.'  While the Tianya forum in mainland China has been much more 'progressive' than the Hong Kong forums in covering the "Sex Photos Gate," the same cannot be said about the mainland print media.  The (edited) photographs in Oriental Sunday could not appear in the mainland print media.  Of course, that may not be a bad thing ...

What motivates Oriental Sunday to do this?  On page 4, there is a statement from the Hong Kong Audits Bureau of Circulation.  Between January and June of 2007, the average number of issues sold for Oriental Sunday was 161,653 copies.  On this particular issue, the number of copies printed is 186,553.  The implication is that 25,000 extra copies would be circulated as a result, even though this is not technically true (e.g. just because you print more copies does not mean that you can sell them).

(Apple Daily; Ming Pao, Ming Pao)

A 24-year-old male clerical worker uploaded two compressed files containing a hundred obscene photographs to a server located in Cyprus (Mediterranean sea) and then posted two hyperlinks at two different Hong Kong discussion forums.  He was charged yesterday with one count of distribution of obscene articles.  During the court appearance, the police presented 11 of the photographs to the magistrate, who looked at them and shook his head.  There was no evidence that the suspect would be a risk.  Therefore, the magistrate allowed him to post HKD 10,000 in bail.  His case will be heard later.  At the hearing, the court room was bursting with reporters (including one from the New York Times).

Previously, the first individual arrested in this case was charged with uploading a single obscene photograph but he was remanded with bail for eight weeks before the next hearing.  In that case, the police indicated that the man was impoverished but had seven platinum credit cards with HKD 500,000 in debt.  Therefore, the man was suspected of commercial fraud.  However, there has been no further evidence provided on this other aspect.  In any case, the issue of bond had been about the uploading of that one photograph.  The discrepancy between the first case and the latest case is disturbing, because commonsense says that uploading 100 photos must be more serious than uploading 1 photograph.

The police i