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It may be illegal to possess lewd pictures
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.
Five were arrested in Aberdeen and  another man was held in Central. All  are Hong Kong residents.
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.
He said the suspects directly or indirectly knew each other and at least three had backgrounds in the information technology industry.
The latest arrests came after a man, 29, was charged with one count of publishing an obscene article last Sunday.
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.'
Legislator James To Kun-sun  said it was difficult to prove  intention. Mr To was worried that what Mr Tang said would make people nervous as many had seen the nude pictures.
He said police should concentrate on  catching the primary source, rather than scaring innocent people who might have seen the pictures.
'It seems to me that the police want to show they have made some progress by arresting people. However, I think they are using a wrong approach,' Mr To said.
Lawyer Wong Kwok-tung also agreed  Mr Tang's words would create confusion. 'Is holding nude pictures illegal? This is not drugs, guns or knives. This can be a personal habit.'
University of Hong Kong law lecturer Eric Cheung Tak-ming felt the police had withheld  evidence fearing it would create unnecessary confusion.
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.'



Six more held over nude stars' photos