Hong Kong’s Security Bureau expands scope of proposed crimes covering upskirt photography, sexual images used for revenge, blackmail

New offences introduced on Wednesday move beyond earlier proposals to encompass non-sexual motives, online distribution

With no voyeurism laws on the books, prosecutors had previously used broader digital crime statutes, an avenue denied them by a May court ruling

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Hong Kong has never had offences on the books specifically covering voyeuristic crimes. That took a step closer to changing on Wednesday. Photo: SCMP

Published: 8:58pm, 8 Jul 2020Updated: 11:47pm, 8 Jul 2020

Hong Kong took another step towards adding voyeurism-related offences to its criminal law for the first time on Wednesday, with authorities proposing statutes that would cover the use of sexual images for blackmail or revenge and outlaw the distribution of upskirt photographs.

The new offences, unveiled in a Security Bureau consultation paper, go beyond those previously suggested by its Law Reform Commission, which do not cover crimes that lack a sexual element or the sharing of intimate videos and images online.

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau is pushing to create the city’s first-ever criminal offences covering such acts as upskirt photography and the sharing of sexual images for the purpose of blackmail or revenge. Photo: Sam Tsang

According to the paper, part of a three-month consultation process, the new offences would carry maximum jail terms of three to five years.

The consultation is part of an effort to plug a loophole for sexual offenders that resulted from a court decision last year.

In May, the Court of Final Appeal restricted how prosecutors could use the charge of “obtaining access to a computer for criminal or dishonest gain”. While originally intended to combat digital crimes, the charge had become a preferred tool of prosecutors in going after sexual offenders.