8½ Months Jail for Sex Photo Techie

First published: 31^st May 2009

Sze Ho-chun, the technician found guilty last month of copying Edison Chen's sex photos, was sentenced to 8½ months in jail. Chief Magistrate Tong Man said he had breached the trust of his employer and intruded on the privacy of Edison and his partners, including Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, Bobo Chan Man-woon and Gillian Chung Yan-tung, in the photos. Sze's application for bail was denied, he plans to appeal the sentence.

Confusingly, the report of the sentencing in the South China Morning Post on 14th May 2009 states, "Sze discovered about 1,300 sexually explicit photos ... while he was servicing a laptop computer belonging to Chan in 2006, after he unlocked the encrypted files", yet previous reports of the case did not mention the files were encrypted, and said that the laptop was being serviced by Sze's colleague, not Sze himself.

Reaction to the sentencing was mixed. Chief Inspector Kenny Wong Tak-cheung, said the judgement showed that obtaining computer information with dishonest intent was a serious offence and that the police were determined to combat such crimes. Writing in The Standard, Diana Lee pointed out that "Killer", the nickname of the unknown person who distributed the photos on the internet, was still at large and noted that a senior police official declined comment on whether the hunt for the "Killer" will continue. Presumably, "Killer" violated Edison's copyright on the photos, and the Customs and Excise Department, not the Police, is the department responsible for taking criminal sanctions against copyright and trade mark infringements in Hong Kong. In pointing a finger at "Killer", Ms Lee should also recall that her own publication distributed some of the photos (partially censored) in its pages, without permission from the copyright holder. The South China Morning Post leader said that victim Chen must also bear moral responsibility for careless handling of the photos, and accused him of wasting taxpayer's money by refusing to return to Hong Kong to testify, forcing the court to travel to Canada to take his evidence.