Kowk Chun-wai changed his plea yesterday and admitted publishing 84 pictures of female stars in sex acts with entertainer Edison Chen Koon-hei by posting hyperlinks to them.

He was warned he would probably go to jail.

Kwok Chun-wai, 24, is one of three people charged in relation to the celebrity nude pictures scandal that gripped the city early this year.

With the support of his parents and friends, Kwok appeared calm when he pleaded guilty in Kowloon City Court to three counts of publishing an obscene article by posting the internet links on January 29 and February 6.

He originally denied the charges in another court on June 3.

Principal Magistrate Andrew Ma Hon-cheung said he would likely impose a jail sentence, noting the offences were serious and had occurred on several occasions.

They can attract a maximum fine of HK$1 million and up to three years’ jail. Kwok was remanded to July 24 for sentencing, pending a background report.

The court was told Kwok had first downloaded the celebrity sex pictures from the internet and saved them to a file storage server, http://w13.easy-share.com, and later posted 25 hyperlinks on the Hong Kong-based adult discussion forum http://new-3lunch.net to direct Net users to the site and allow them to download the images.

Prosecutor Hayson Tse Ka-sze said that of all the posted hyperlinks, police found that only five led to celebrity sex pictures, Of the pictures, 84 ruled obscene by the Obscene Articles Tribunal on April 23 were cited in the charges. Some of the images showed oral sex.

Police arrested Kwok on February 10 at his Ngau Tau Kok home.

Barrister Ody Lai said her client had not realised the seriousness of his actions. What had motivated his offence was the community interest that had already been sparked [many similar pictures had already been posted on the internet] and a statement relating to them published in a Chinese newspaper by the Emperor Entertainment Group on January 28.

The group claimed the pictures were fake, the court heard.

The court was told Kwok was a hard-working employee with a good work record who had started a logistics degree at Caritas Francis Hsu College in January.

He was very remorseful over what he had done, Ms Lai said.

The celebrity sex photos sparked a huge controversy in February when hundreds of explicit pictures of Edison Chen and female celebrities were distributed by e-mail and messaging systems.

The photographs were of Chen with purportedly Canto-pop star Gillian Chung Yan-tung, actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, former actress Bobo Chan Man-woon, model-actress Rachel Ngan Wing-sze, former singer Candice Chan Si-wai, 2001 Miss Chinese International contestant Mandy Chen Yu-ju and Vincy Yeung Wing-ching, niece of entertainment tycoon Albert Yeung Sau-shing.

Gillian Chung and Edison Chen have since made public apologies in relation to the pictures.

Chen is expected to return to the city in October for the trial of the remaining two people charged over the incident.

The first man arrested in relation to the scandal, Chung Yik-tin, was freed on February 15 after charges against him were withdrawn.

There is a contest going no for best Hello Kitty Online Video under the tag HKOCONTEST, check the above video out, it really is funny and technically excellent!

Techcrunch has an interesting article on Google supporting and assisting the arrest of an Indian Man for saying he hated a prominent politician. More details on this story here entitled Techie held for posting derogatory messages against Sonia Gandhi on Orkut.

To quote from Techcrunch:

He was then charged under section 292 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information Technology Act because he created a profile and then posted content in vulgar language about Sonia Gandhi in the community. If he’s convicted, he can be imprisoned for up to five years and may have to pay a fine up to Rs one lakh.

Now what is interesting is that for a democracy like India there appears to be no free speech issue issue for arresting a pan who said he hated a politician.

The Express Indian times said this:

Interestingly, the person who formed this community is not guilty as per the law. The police said that hating Sonia Gandhi is a personal opinion of the person who formed the community and having a personal opinion about someone is not an offence as per the law.

So he may not even be technically in breach as the law says he is entitled to a personal opinion.

So why is he charged and arrested?

Isn’t India a democratic country?

When China arrested people such as Shi Tao the media was abuzz, Yahoo was taken, in part, to congress on this, lots of reactions took place. The world was against China and its government, lots of protests took place. Yahoo was called a moral pygmie for supporting China by US Politicians because of this.

Don’t get me wrong, both is wrong, neither China or India should be arresting people for expressing their personal opinions or their free speech rights.

But the Internet has little  news about Rahul Krishnakumar Vaid from Gurgaon in contrast. Shi Tao in contrast was prominent news including the BBC.

China is not a democratic country yet, it is communist and has laws against certain areas of free speech and media. That they are not  agreeable to some, if not most is not my point, I agree that China needs to open up more and become more democratic which it is slowly embracing. What I find awful is that when a democratic country does the same thing, the world turns a blind eye. WHY?

Because you embrace ‘democracy’ therefore it is ok to break your own fundamental values? Countries that are called communist do not?

A dangerous polarization is taking place, like as was mention in this Pro-China or Anti-China video about the infamous torch relay.

China is viewed as simply bad no matter what it does, and if the media and individuals continue to display China poorly without recognizing that there are other aspects you will make us more suspicious. You will make us wonder more about your hidden agenda to hurt us. Are you afraid of China? Why can a perso be arrested in a democractic country for violations of free speech but not in China? What would happen if someone blogged "I don’t like Hu Jintao?" in China, it would be more than a mere footprint of online news, it would take the world by storm, Google would be asked to come in to congress to explain their actions like Yahoo did.

But for Rahul, he doesn’t seem to matter, because he is from India, or because India is "democratic" and endorses the western view of free speech?

Does the world really think China wouldn’t notice this type of treatment and be understanding of it? What does one really hope to achieve other than further polarizing and segmenting the chinese? If it was the intent of western media to garner sympathy and support for creating a more open society in China, your recent display was anything but.

Or perhaps they do not want to understand us, from this post I saw this:

Sushipanda said that over half of my Chinese-Chinese friends on MSN have put the badge on their contact names, in defiance of all the anti-China bullying that they’re undoubtedly reading about in the Chinese newspapers, watching on the Chinese news, and scouring over on the hundreds of blogs and BBS’s peppering China’s cyberscape and devoted to propping up this country’s national pride.

TC suggested that outsiders are suggesting that the news in China is being censored and that Chinese citizens aren’t getting a balanced view of the reality of the international protests. But whatever the cause, this is a significant showing of Chinese nationalistic behavior, and a sign that they are paying attention to the outside world.

What is surprising is that the West and the western media appears to insist that things are bad in China, the Olympics is China’s call to the new century, about improvement, about progress, and about some pride. The only perception the West leaves us with is that you wish to deny this moment of glory to us, why would you do that? When South Korea had their Olympics from a corrupt and military state was there this protest? Infact you were all hailing the progress and hoping South Korea will improve after this, which it did, so why do you want to spoil it for China? Are you envious, jealous or feel that we do not deserve our entry into the word? Do you think us foolish or ignorant of the meaning of “freedom” or “democracy”?

Do not raise your false torch for your so called chaotic and revolutionary freedom that will bring misery and war. You claim the name of Tibet for an Olympic Boycott but the Da Lai Lama himself does not agree or advocate it.

There is much China needs to improve upon, nobody will disagree with you here. There is no question that human rights can be better, that poverty is a problem, that education is a problem, that censorship is a problem, but if you think boycott, revolution and drastic change is the answer, as your violent protests seem to indicate then you will have learnt nothing of China’s true bloodshed in its many revolutions.

Visitors to the Beijing Games may be able to buy Playboy and a raft of other limited publications as China mulls relaxing its controls for the Summer Olympics in line with international practice.

Source China Daily.

All pornographic material is prohibited on the mainland but a temporary exception could be made for the Games, according to the biggest importer of foreign publications in the country. “Our law forbids Playboy and we should obey this, but we can’t rule out the possibility that it might make its debut. There might be a demand for it (from athletes or visitors) during the Games,” said Liang Jianrui, vice-president of China National Publications Import and Export Corporation, which will manage the nine magazine-selling kiosks sanctioned by Olympic organizers BOCOG during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Each kiosk will retail over 100 kinds of newspapers and magazines, including publications that are difficult to find in the capital like The New York Times, Newsweek and Britain’s The Sun famous for its topless Page 3 models. “We will provide most of the world’s top-selling newspapers and magazines,” said Liang. While Playboy, the brainchild of Hugh Hefner that is known for its “tasteful” photos of buxom beauties, remains a highly controversial choice at the Olympic Village, there is a growing trend in China to experiment with magazines that were once deemed dangerous or unsanitary.

China’s increasingly liberal political climate has seen sweeping changes hit the shelves of bookstores in the last 18 months, with a Chinese edition of edgy music journal Rolling Stone now deemed fit for the Chinese reading public. Other foreign media, like The New York Times, usually costs twice as much in Beijing as it does in Hong Kong - because of high tax rate and shipping costs, and is often restricted to five-star hotels, international compounds and special foreign bookstores.

Many expatriates in the capital consider this one of the “cons” of living in the city. “It is very inconvenient to buy foreign newspapers and magazines in Beijing,” said South African Jeremy Goldkorn, a 12-year China resident who founded a popular English blog about the country. “As a long-term resident of Beijing, I am already used to reading my favorite publications online, but even then, some foreign websites are inexplicably difficult to access.”

Beijing is going all out on a PR offensive to show the world next summer that it is an international city and is ready to bend the rules to give visitors a more comfortable stay. In addition to implementing a citywide clean-up campaign involving taxi-drivers and social etiquette lessons, it is ramping up English learning across the city, recruiting an unprecedented number of volunteers for the Games and doing its utmost to sanitize the environment and food hygiene levels in the city. The relaxation of curbs on magazines and newspapers follows Olympic protocol. Previous host cities like Athens, Sydney and Atlanta were also asked to ensure journalists and athletes had access to all leading international publications.

The move is also in line with a growing appetite among the Chinese public for foreign, and especially original, material, including novels. The final installment of the bestselling Harry Potter series, for example, sold 50,000 copies on its first print here despite a high retail price of 200 yuan per hardback copy. “This trend of releasing more foreign material stems purely from demand,” said Liang. “Before China opened up, expatriates were so eager to read their newspapers and books in Beijing that China made exceptions by opening foreign bookstores. Nowadays, Chinese bookstores sell foreign books.”

The good news for athletes, tourists and journalists during the 2008 Olympics is that they will be able to find many of their favorite paperbacks at downtown bookstores, while also being able to catch up on the latest news from the nine designated kiosks only hours after publications like the Financial Times are printed in Hong Kong. Popular Asian newspapers such as Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Singapore’s The Strait Times and France’s L’Équipe will also be available, said Liang.

The kiosks got a pre-run this August at the Olympic co-host city of Qingdao when it staged the Qingdao International Sailing Regatta, an Olympic test event. Liang said his company is also talking with leading newspapers including The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times to keep down retail costs and make sure the papers arrive in a timely manner. These two dailies do not have access to printing presses in Hong Kong and must be flown from the United States to Beijing. “Our newsstands will respond to the practical needs of visitors during the Games,” said Liang. “We plan to release a list of what’s going to be available next April or May, but it may not be the final list.”

Six of the nine kiosks will be located in the media area for accredited and non-accredited journalists, he said. The biggest one, with a floor space of 68 sq m, will sit in the International Broadcasting Center. Athletes and coaches will have access to their favorite reads at the Olympic Village, while another store at the Olympic Green will cater to international and domestic spectators. The newsstands will be updated every three hours from 9 am to 6 pm, Jiao Guoying, president of the company, told local media recently.

On a newsstand at the University of International Business and Economics in north Beijing, several copies of a pink Financial Times stick out from behind piles of Chinese publications. The second-hand newspaper costs only 4 yuan (50 US cents), a fraction of its retail price in Europe, but is a must-read for finance majors at the college. Yet the fact it is even here at all is a mystery to many. “A man delivers the papers to me, but I’m not exactly sure where they come from,” said Han, a vendor at the school who refused to disclose her full name. A man who used to sell second-hand magazines during his college days told China Daily on condition of anonymity that he persuaded airport staff at Beijing Capital International Airport to collect used foreign magazines from the cabins of international flights, before carrying them to universities and crowded English schools like New Oriental in the capital.

As foreign publications, both in print and online, are still few and far between in China, used copies from “smugglers” like this form one of the limited channels for Chinese to (literally) get their hands on material that is easily available overseas. “When Time magazine published its Person of the Year edition last December, featuring a mirror reflecting the reader herself, I was eager to get one,” said Wu Yun, a senior student of Beijing Foreign Studies University. “It took me over a month to get one copy but in the end I did it,” she told China Daily.

Used periodicals like Time, The Economist and National Geographic, which are brought to the Chinese mainland from Hong Kong, are also among the best sellers, said vendors around Wu’s school. One vender there said he sold about 50 to 60 copies every month. Readers of foreign publications in China include students, scholars and office workers with some foreign-language skills.

During weekends, reading rooms for foreign-language periodicals are usually packed at the National Library of China near Zhongguancun, where more than 10,000 foreign periodicals are available. “I asked for leave from my company to come here and read foreign periodicals like I.D., Innovation, Design and Mono,” said a woman surnamed He, an industrial designer in her late 20s and a fine arts enthusiast. “Not many Chinese design companies can afford to subscribe to all these magazines,” she said. “But they are really useful.” Luo Huan, a 30-year-old librarian at the library, said that nowadays Chinese readers want to know more about what is going on in the world of international science, law and social affairs.

Many Chinese frequently read foreign publications online, using portals, search engines, proxies and RSS feeds. The Chinese websites of some western media have also experienced a growing readership on the Chinese mainland. “Reading more global publications certainly broadens the mind,” said Chen Lidan, a media expert at Beijing-based Renmin University. “But right now few people do that in China.”

“The driving force behind foreign publications in China comes from the coalition of the market and the policy. Policy follows demand,” said Liang Jianrui, vice-president of China National Publications Import and Export Corporation. “I often bought second-hand magazines at school. But since I left, I can rarely find them,” said Han Mingbing, a college graduate who now works at a tourism company in Beijing. “If the latest edition of Time was available around the corner, I would snap it up no matter how much it cost,” he said.

Beleaguered actor-singer Edison Chen Koon-hei returned to Hong Kong yesterday and apologised unreservedly for his involvement in the nude pictures controversy, saying he would quit the local entertainment scene indefinitely.

He admitted for the first time he had taken pictures of female celebrities engaging in sex acts with him. His lawyers issued a statement warning that further publication of the images would be a breach of copyright, a move that could foreshadow legal  action.

It is interesting to see how legal action against proprietary images is being used, since they were "stolen" and published without consent, does this mean we will be seeing multi million dollar lawsuits headed towards media outlets that published these photos?

"I would like to say sorry to all the people of Hong Kong. I give my apologies sincerely to you all unreservedly and with my heart," the Canadian-born Chen, 27, told a packed press conference at the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kowloon Bay. "I hope you all will accept my apology. Give me a chance."

He added: "I admit that most of the photos being circulated on the internet were taken by me. But these photos were very private, and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone. These photos were stolen from me illegally and distributed without my consent."

Chen said he would leave the local entertainment industry after fulfilling current commitments. His  lawyers released a statement saying Chen was the owner of the photographs and images "featuring himself and his lady friends in intimate circumstances", in an attempt to stop the pictures being circulated on the internet or published in the press.

The statement said that downloading the photographs was an act of copyright infringement and the  reproduction and dissemination of the photographs to the public was an "even more serious act of copyright infringement".

The photographs, featuring Chen and seven female celebrities including Gillian Chung Yan-tung of girl duo Twins, actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi and his current girlfriend Vincy Yeung Wing-ching, niece of Emperor Group tycoon Albert Yeung Sau-shing, have been circulated globally since the scandal broke nearly four weeks ago.

During his seven-minute speech, Chen repeatedly apologised to the  female stars who had been  embroiled in the scandal.

"I would like to apologise to all the ladies and to all their families for any harm or hurt that they have been  feeling. I’m sorry," he said calmly. He added: "I know young people in Hong Kong look up to many figures in our society. And in this regard, I failed as a role model. I will wholeheartedly fulfil all the commitments that I have to date but after that I have decided to step away from the Hong Kong entertainment industry."

Albert Yeung said last night Chen had spoken well and was "very sincere". "I think we should give him a chance." On Chen’s decision to quit local showbusiness he said: "It’s a pity, but this is his personal decision."

Gary Chan Chi-kwong, director of East Asia Music, said the company supported Chen’s decision.

Defending his decision to disappear after the scandal broke, Chen said: "I have never escaped from my responsibility … I have been assisting the police since the first day the photos were published, and I will continue to assist them."

Chen said he would dedicate his time to charity in the next few months and hoped his predicament would be a lesson for the wider  community.

After the press conference, police went to Chen’s home in Magazine Gap Road to continue their investigation and search for evidence.

"We have collected evidence including some computer-related items and a computer," said Chief Inspector Kenny Wong Tak-cheung from the Commercial Crime Bureau.

Apple Daily and The Sun continued to have Edison Chen on the front page.  Apple Daily said that Edison Chen has backed off on his plan to return to Hong Kong, while The Sun went further by saying that he threatened to slash his wrists in order to force his girlfriend Vincy Yeung into marrying him. I suppose if I was Edison I might not want to come back either but now he might be branded a coward together with everything else people are calling him these days.

In the meantime

The first man arrested over the celebrity sex-photos scandal was freed yesterday when the charge against him was abruptly withdrawn after he had spent two weeks behind bars. Amid a storm of criticism over police handling of the case, Chung Yik-tin, 29, walked out of Tuen Mun Court disguised in a surgical mask and hat after the Department of Justice withdrew a charge against him of publishing an obscene article. On Thursday the Obscene Articles Tribunal, in response to an application by a newspaper, ruled that photographs circulating on the internet of a woman, allegedly Canto-pop star Gillian Chung Yan-tung, naked and spread-legged on a bed with singer-actor Edison Chen Koon-hei, were indecent but not obscene. Its ruling is an interim one. “After a thorough review we found the possibility is low that the tribunal will make a [final] classification of the photo as obscene. For justice to be seen to be done, we’ve decided to withdraw the charge,” senior government counsel Hayson Tse Ka-sze told the court.

Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg withdrew on Tuesday as an artistic adviser to the this year Summer Olympics in Beijing over China’s policy on the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.

“I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,” Mr Spielberg said in a statement issued on a day when Nobel Peace laureates sent a letter to China’s president urging a change in policies toward its ally Sudan.

“At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur,” he added.

China is a leading oil customer and supplier of weapons to Sudan and is accused by critics of providing diplomatic cover for Khartoum as it stonewalls international efforts to send peacekeepers into Darfur.

In April, Mr Spielberg wrote a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao adding his voice to the chorus of people who have protested China’s involvement with the Sudanese government over the crisis in Darfur. At that time, Mr Spielberg had asked to meet with Hu, but the president failed to respond.

In his statement on Tuesday, Mr Spielberg said Sudan’s government shouldered the bulk of responsibility for “these ongoing crimes” in Darfur but said China “should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there.”

Earlier on Tuesday, nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates – including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Jody Williams – sent a letter to Mr Hu urging China to uphold Olympic ideals by pressing Sudan to stop atrocities in Darfur.

“As the primary economic, military and political partner of the Government of Sudan, and as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has both the opportunity and the responsibility to contribute to a just peace in Darfur,” said the letter.

“Ongoing failure to rise to this responsibility amounts, in our view, to support for a government that continues to carry out atrocities against its own people,” said the letter, released on a day of events by the Save Darfur Coalition.

The letter was also signed by US politicians, Olympic medalists and entertainers and delivered to Chinese embassies and missions as part of events in the United States and Europe staged to mark six months before the August 8-24 Olympics.

In more than four years of conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes, according to estimates from international experts. Khartoum says 9,000 people have died.

Sudan’s government, in its largest offensive in months, attacked three towns in Darfur on Friday, forcing about 200,000 people from their homes and leading thousands to flee into neighbouring eastern Chad.

US actress Mia Farrow, who has led the coalition’s global campaign to press China to change its policies, gathered a crowd outside the Chinese mission to the United Nations in New York as she tried to deliver the letter.

“China hopes that these games will be its post-Tiananmen Square coming out party. But how can Beijing host the Olympic Games at home and underwrite genocide in Darfur?” she said, stuffing the letter under the mission door after her knocks went unanswered.

The letter to President Hu acknowledged Chinese support for a UN Security Council resolution calling for deployment of a UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

“However, we note with dismay that the Chinese government worked to weaken the resolution before it passed,” it said. The letter said China doubled its trade with Sudan last year and continued its military relationship with the African country.

Jody Williams, a US citizen who won the prize in 1997 for her campaign against land mines, said she and fellow female laureates had formed the Nobel Women’s Initiative in 2006 to focus on conflicts and particularly their impact on women.

Mass rape has been a weapon of warfare in Darfur and in Myanmar, the former Burma, another Chinese-backed regime.

“In Darfur and in the case of Burma, China is the eight-jillion-ton elephant in the room and needs to use some of its weight in a positive way,” Ms Williams said by telephone from Virginia.

The Save Darfur Coalition said it staged similar events in Britain, Portugal and Italy on Tuesday and planned more protests in Nigeria, France, Australia and elsewhere.

The campaign has so far not called for a global boycott of the Beijing games, although activists advocate not attending or watching the Beijing Olympics on television.

China’s embassy had no immediate comment. But last month, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper and foreign ministry said China would never submit to pressure from groups trying to use the Olympics to change Chinese policy.

A good article on globalvoices today. The most striking comment being that even possession of the photos were illegal by a Police commissioner who clearly did not know better. A major protest was out on the streets to protest the obscene photo case and relevant arrest.

There is now even a facebook group calling for Edison Chen’s arrest.

Depending on the source, anywhere from 250-500 people were marching on the street, a sample from hkdigit.

More than 250 Hong Kong people included members of the League of Social Democrats(Organizers Article23.net said more than 500 people attended) marched from Victoria Park to the Wan Chai Police headquarters to protest against the police’s handling of the obscene photo case involving local pop and film stars including Edison Chen Kwoon-hei(陳冠希), Gillian Chung Yan-tung (鍾欣桐), Bobo Chan Man-woon (陳文媛) and Cecilia Cheung Pak-zhi (張栢芝), implicated Edison’s current girlfriend Vincy Yeung (楊永晴). They accused the police of selective prosecution.

For more information on this there is even a Wikipedia entry.

There are several events of hypocrisy, starting from the lie that the pictures were fabricated, to the innocent and quick arrests of people and the police threatening to jail people simply for possession. I guess being a celebrity gives you some extra benefits in Hong Kong society?

The full text is here.

HONG Kong actor and singer Edison Chen has apologised over images of him partially nude with several starlets which were found in the Internet.

The 1 min 28 second-long apology that was recorded on video was reported by all Chinese dailies – Sin Chew Daily, China Press and Nanyang Siang Pau yesterday.

The apology signalled that Chen, who had been missing since the photos involving six female artistes were widely circulated in the Internet since the end of last month, admitted that he had taken those photos.

Chen provided the media with the video statement through his lawyers.

Previously there was a lot of discussion over the “fake pictures” and how people who owned any of these would be prosecuted according to a police statement, which of course is both favoritism and abuse of a different kind given the recent GOD scandal were the furniture store was raised for T-shirts that were somewhat controversial. If after all this sabre rattling it turns out that they were not fakes what does this all mean?

Over in this article describing this as Hong Kong’s biggest sex photo scandal ever. The interesting bit being this:

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 and he downloaded them onto his own computer.

Source from Sing Tao.

The story continues.

His apology is below.

UPDATE: follow up articles are here and here.