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.

A quick guide/tip to overcoming the Video Sanriotown limit.

So you may be asking, why did I not post any videos recently, since I usually post a lot of videos.

Simply put, I ran out of space! I guess I didn’t realize but I used up hundreds of megabytes of upload space so I cannot post any new videos! The solution, open a new account! It’s free of course!

So I opened up a new video account here to see my new videos of course! If I tag them all right, they should all link to each other going forward, let’s hope and see!

Here’s my first video entry with the new free account, DOH!

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.

Just eight years ago, Komomo was a Japanese teenager living in Beijing, riding her bicycle around the city and playing pool with her friends on weekends.

Now she is a geisha in Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, a proudly elegant member of a centuries-old but fading profession of female entertainers celebrated for their beauty, skill at traditional dance and music, and witty conversation.

Unlike the old days when girls would become geisha through personal connections, 23-year-old Komomo (Little Peach) took her first steps towards the vocation by e-mail.

As Komomo recounted in A Geisha’s Journey, a book of essays and photographs by Naoyuki Ogino due out in May, she had no way of learning about the remote and secretive geisha world until she found a website run by Koito, a Kyoto geisha who also ran an okiya, or geisha house (www.e-koito.com) .

“I wanted to know more about my own country and that’s why I chose this world,” says Komomo. “I wanted to make Japanese history and customs a part of my daily life, not just wearing a kimono occasionally but every day and living life as they did in the old days.”

But this seemed impossible until she found Koito’s website, one of the first written by a working geisha.

“I was so excited that I e-mailed Koito-san right away, telling her my dream of becoming a maiko, an apprentice geisha, but that I didn’t know how to begin,” she says.

The two corresponded for three years, until Komomo graduated from junior high school. Despite opposition from her parents, who wanted her to take a more conventional path of university and marriage, the 15-year-old headed for Kyoto. “I thought she wouldn’t last,” says Kimiko Nasu, Komomo’s mother, who was visiting her only child. “She has a strong will, and in the geisha world you have to make yourself disappear.”

Komomo moved into Koito’s okiya in Miyagawa-cho, a cluster of narrow, stone-paved streets lined with wooden houses in central Kyoto. Her first weeks were spent learning to greet people with polite bows, wear the kimono and speak in the soft Kyoto dialect.

“In the first year, it seemed I was scolded all the time. That was my job, to be scolded,” says Komomo, who stands barely 1.5 metres tall.

“At evening gatherings, no mistakes are permitted, and this isn’t something you can just learn suddenly. It has to be driven home, as part of your daily life, so you won’t do anything embarrassing in front of the guests.”

Each demanding day begins with lessons in dance, singing, tea ceremony and music, and continues with parties - the geisha’s real work - from six until midnight.

With only one day off every two or three months, Komomo at first sometimes longed for the life of an ordinary teenager, able to see movies on a whim. But she only thought of quitting briefly, during her first two weeks, when another girl decided to leave.

“I realised then what my true feelings were. I thought, since I decided to do this, I might as well try really hard.”

Wearing an elaborate maiko kimono with long sleeves and a wide, trailing sash, and learning to walk in the outfit without bumping into anything or anyone, especially during dance performances, was hard. Komomo also forgot rules and lost hair ornaments.

“In our okiya we didn’t cry that much,” she says. “My time in China was actually much harder at first.”

Komomo’s life overseas - she was born in Mexico and spent some years in Japan before moving to China - has helped her break the ice with guests. But there were problems.

“At first I had some friction with ordinary life in Japan, and I was a bit cheeky. Here they say it’s best to act as if you know nothing, but actually be really clever.

“Every so often, I got conceited from all the attention, but somebody soon brought me down to earth,” Komomo says of her five years as a maiko.

“It was actually refreshing to finally become a geisha because you’re not forced to be `on’ for 24 hours a day.”

She won’t say what she earns, but bystanders at the theatre where she took part in a dance performance say she is popular. She owns a house, and its main room has a huge flat-screen TV and new model Macintosh computer.

“I was told when I began that I’m not an incredible beauty so I should try to always keep a smile on my face. Beauties get work easily, but I need to work at it,” she says.

She confessed to worries about the future. There are no pensions for geisha and they are not permitted to marry, though in the past some were supported as mistresses. Some even became single mothers.

Although Komomo says she wants children, she has only been a geisha for two years and hasn’t thought about the future yet. “I don’t even have a boyfriend,” she says. “I’m too busy to meet anyone, and the guests at the parties are my father’s age.”

Of greater concern is the fate of the geisha world itself.

Geisha numbers in Japan peaked at 80,000 in 1928, but now only 1,000 are left. One of the six geisha districts in tradition-bound Kyoto has folded due to lack of business.

The economic woes of the 1990s slashed the expense accounts of business executives who were once the mainstays of geisha, while politicians shunned lavish spending after scandals.

A dinner with a geisha present can cost around 80,000 yen (HK$6,000) a person, depending on the venue and the number of geisha.

Another problem is that men today tend to prefer less formal entertainment such as karaoke or hostess bars.

Many people, including Komomo, say the geisha world needs to open up more, and they say the internet is an ideal tool.

“In the old days, people only got to know geisha through introductions, but now people rely on the internet to gather information,” says Kyoko Aihara, a geisha expert and author.

“Miyagawa-cho has introduced themselves on the net. They’re more flexible than some of the more traditional geisha areas, they want people to have fun - and this is working for them.”

In a move to gently ease neophytes into the geisha world, Koito, who trained Komomo, runs an elegant bar on the first floor of her okiya where guests can meet geisha for relatively inexpensive prices.

“History changes, so if you just offer the same thing it’s no good. The service you provide has to match the age,” she says. “We need to keep providing things the world needs. If we’re not needed anymore, all we can do is disappear.”

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.

Already known as the largest e-waste capital of the world and often discussed in various high profile news articles and blogs it would appear that Guiyu is however still not getting any real priority attention to fix this terrible situation.

image courtesy of http://coolthingsinrandomplaces.com/guiyu/ and reposted…

Most of Guiyu makes their living by tearing apart outdated Dells with their bare hands. To access the solder, for example, they roast circuit boards over coal-fired grills. Printer cartridges are attacked with paint brushes, sending black clouds into the air and lungs. Gold is obtained using acid strippers, whose sludge is later dumped into the local river.

Computers components, however old, are rife with bits of valuable metals - many savvy geeks strip their old technology of gold before leaving them on the curb. But they also contain enough other materials - lead, cadmium, barium, even mercury - that electronic waste qualifies as hazardous, which is why most western countries drop it off as waste disposal centers. From there, 80% of e-waste heads straight to Asia.

Some workers claim they can distinguish between dozens of plastics, based on how they smell when they burn. Workers here make as little as $100 a month.

 Many stars vied for honors at the Kids Choice Awards on Saturday, but only two mattered to the thousands of screaming children on hand.Miley Cyrus, the 15-year-old heroine of the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana,” and the Jonas Brothers, a pop band comprised of three fresh-faced siblings, were the top draws at the Oscars for the pint-sized set. A-listers like Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz could only look on in bemusement.

Cyrus performed at the 90-minute ceremony, and picked up a pair of orange blimp statuettes for favorite female singer and television actress.

Her “Hannah Montana” concert tour was the hottest ticket in the land last year, with anxious parents paying thousands of dollars for scalped tickets. The scarcity of tickets prompted political probes and even a Federal Reserve economics primer on the basics of supply and demand. A concert film recently topped the North American box office.

Arriving at the Pauley Pavilion with three bodyguards in tow, Cyrus elicited ear-splitting shrieks from the excitable fans. When she took to the stage to accept her awards, she thanked, in true Hollywood style, “my lord and savior Jesus Christ” and her coterie of managers and agents.

The Jonas Brothers — Joe, 18, Kevin, 20, and Nick, 15 — were named favorite music group.

The ceremony, now in its 21st year, is organized by Viacom Inc-owned kids cable channel Nickelodeon. Host Jack Black said more than 88 million votes were cast online. Last year’s telecast drew a record 6.1 million viewers across the United States. The show is also broadcast internationally.

The decidedly goofy event gives serious Hollywood celebrities an excuse to degrade themselves for children’s amusement. Harrison Ford and Orlando Bloom were drenched in green slime, the network’s traditional badge of honor. Diaz, winner of the Wannabe Award for best role model, took time out in a special booth to display her belching skills.

Perhaps most bizarrely, German supermodel Heidi Klum was hoisted through the air on a cable, and had to pop balloons with spikes attached to the derriere of her jumpsuit. That’s quite a leap from the catwalks of Milan and New York.

Other winners — not that anyone really remembered five minutes afterwards — included “Shrek” co-star Murphy for favorite voice from an animated movie, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” for favorite movie, and Jessica Alba and Johnny Depp for favorite movie stars.

From worth1000, this is a very freaky picture, photoshopped of course but amazingly cute and freaky at the same time, scary too…

A star was born earlier this week, and she was fortunate enough to already have decent-quality products available on the Internet. The price of Ashley Alexandra Dupre’s Amie Street songs instantly soared from pennies to $0.98, and now, according to the Post, has settled around $0.68. And that just the beginning for this very physical digital entrepreneur.Highlights from the Post:

• $200,000+ from song sales so far (300,000+ downloads)
• $1 million offer from Hustler magazine
• Offers from Penthouse, et al
• $1 million offer from Kick Ass Pictures for a starring role
• Expected $1 million offer for a book deal.
• Hypothetical “Client No. 9″ perfume deal
• “Six figure” offer from Georgi Vodka to star in their butts-on-buses campaign (”She’s probably got the most popular butt in America right now,” a Georgi executive says). Georgi also wants to create a new product around her called “Vodka No. 9.”
• Commercials, tabloid-TV shows, a sexy clothing line, and more.

The Post’s expert estimates that Ashley could coin $2.5 to $5 million off this publicity bonanza and calculates that she “would have to service Spitzer 581 to 1,162 times at her going rate of $4,300 for four hours to earn the same amount of money.”

The downside: Her new business success will make her ineligible for further representation by her public defender. Also, the 22-year old will be besieged by reps, managers, advisors, acquaintances, and agents of all types, some of whom will no doubt persuade her that she can’t afford not to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. In the moment, this will seem like pennies, but if her career trajectory follows that of other instant web stars, will soon leave her penniless again.

Wow, is all I can say!