Edison Chen's Sex Scandal Case - The Rights and Powers Behind Photographs

Source
Shao Jian at Southern Metropolis Daily

The "Sex Photos Gate" is a farce. At this time, the uploaders have been arrested but the Hong Kong citizens are unhappy. They wanted to march on February 10 to protest the unfairness of the Hong Kong police who only know to go after small citizens while ignoring the source.

They marched yesterday to the Wanchai police headquarters to protest the threatening words from Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing, who said that possession of large numbers of obscene articles may be inferred to be evidence of intent to distribute. The awareness of Hong Kong citizens is high and, under "one country, two systems," they could march to express their will in front of the police station. This was also a fight between rights and powers. In a normal democratic society, the powers have to listen to the sounds of the rights even if they are reluctant to do so.

However, one must be wary that the improper actions of the police have triggered inappropriate demands -- 70% of netizens voted to de-criminalize uploading and they also wanted the police to arrest Edison Chen for taking the photographs and being the source. But this is demanding the authorities to hurt another victim. Chen may be the photographer, but he is also a victim whose privacy has been invaded. Unless the photographs were taken by force, it is not against the law to take such photographs; the criminals are those who circulated the photographs on the Internet.

No matter how you look at it, this was a major invasion of privacy that caused severe mental distress on the principals. In examining this case, we see that the authorities must not selectively enforce the law. When that happens, there will be a reaction from the citizens whose rights are infringed upon. Once the people are incensed, conflicts among various rights may lead to more injustice and damages.