BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com was asked by Beijing's Internet self-discipline organization to make a public apology for spreading Hong Kong star Edison Chen's pornographic photos.

Photos supposedly showing Hong Kong actor and singer Edison Chen and several female stars naked in bed and in sexual poses became a hot topic among Internet users from late January onwards.

The Beijing Internet news information review council, initiated by government-sponsored Beijing Association of Online Media, issued a statement on Monday, criticizing the Nasdaq-listed website as being badly behaved during this event.

In the statement the association said "we severely criticize Baidu's behavior".

"'Key-words searching' and 'Tieba', a picture-sharing section of Baidu.com became a platform to show and spread the obscene pictures and Baidu failed to block the photos after other Beijing-based websites had taken actions against the pictures' spreading," said the statement.

A staff member, who refused to reveal her name, at Baidu's public affairs department said the company was asked to make an apology yesterday, however, the authorities haven't made decision yet.

"It's not convenient for us to comment at present," she told Xinhua.

The statement praised other big Chinese mainland websites, including Sohu.com, Sina.com and Netease, as they called for Internet users "not to download, save and spread the photos" and "to prevent the photos from falling into the hands of children".

"They have shown their conscience and responsibility," it said.

It also called on all websites in the Chinese mainland not to provide any excuse and technical support for the spread of pornographic photos, in a bid to create a clean, healthy, and civilized Internet environment.

The council, composed by government officials, website staff, experts and netizens, was initiated in 2006 as a self-disciplinary organization for Beijing websites and online information providers.

A total of 42 Beijing-based websites, including Baidu.com signed to accept supervision of the council.

China has laws and regulations prohibiting producing, publicizing, selling and spreading pornographic information through the internet. The Ministry of Public Security recently started a nationwide campaign to shut down websites and blogs carrying pornographic information lasting until September.

JINAN, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police have arrested two more men in a nationwide crackdown on the distribution of sexually explicit photos featuring Hong Kong entertainer Edison Chen, police in east China's Shandong Province said on Sunday.

Hong Kong police have been hunting for the first releaser of the photos and had made several arrests.

At least 13 people have been arrested on the Chinese mainland in connection with the photos. Chinese law prohibits the production, duplication, selling or circulation of pornographic products even without the purpose of making profit. Offenders can face detention of up to 15 days.

Ten people who allegedly produced, sold or bought computer discs of the photos were arrested in the southern city of Shenzhen in February, when police confiscated about 250 discs and six computers used to produce the discs.

An 11th person, surnamed Yu, was detained for 10 days in Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, on Feb. 22. He was found to have downloaded 260 photos on his computer and uploaded the photos to the album of his QQ space to attract other Internet users.

On Saturday, police in the central China province of Hunan sentenced two men to five days detention for disseminating the explicit photos on the Internet.

Last month, the Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com was asked by a Beijing Internet self-discipline organization to make a public apology for allowing the circulation of the photos.

A 25-year-old man surnamed Wei was arrested on Feb. 12 for allegedly uploading 1,174 shots featuring Chen with female celebrities on to a chat room of the instant messenger QQ.com for downloads, according to the Internet supervision police brigade in Zibo City.

Wei allegedly provided links to the chat room at cbbn.bbs, a popular on-line forum, to canvas interest. Wei was detained and is awaiting trial.

The Zibo police said Wei confessed that he obtained the photos from another person outside Shandong when the pictures started to leak out.

The other man, surnamed Li, was given a ten-day detention and fined 3,000 yuan (420 U.S. dollars) on Feb. 15 for uploading more than 180 copies of the photos to his personal space at QQ.com.

Police in Tai'an, in Shandong, said Li, 21, provided links and codes to access the photos through his web page to solicit visits to increase its popularity.

The photos, reportedly copied by a computer repair shop assistant from a faulty laptop believed to belong to Chen, began to appear on the Internet from Jan. 27.

On Feb. 21, Chen made a public apology and announced that he would quit the Hong Kong entertainment industry. He admitted most of the photos were taken by him. "These photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone."

Scandal boost popularity Edison Chen

Each twist and turn in the celebrity nude-photo scandal has Hong Kong agog. That young and attractive pop and movie stars are involved draws a natural audience, while the revealing nature of the images and the intrigue over how they were disseminated leaves many in the community eager for the next instalment.

What do you think of the nude photos scandal?

Perhaps the most extraordinary matter to come out of the nude photos affair were the comments from Principal Magistrate Kwok Wai-kin when he freed suspect Chung Yik-tin. According to the Post, the magistrate said: "Your action has been harmful. You have invaded the privacy and trampled the dignity of the celebrities, whose public image and possibly their careers may be affected as a result. What you did is morally outrageous."...

Man held for nude photos 'can seek damages' was released!!

The first man arrested for distributing nude photos on the internet could claim damages from the government after the Justice Department withdrew the charge and he was released after being detained for two weeks. ...

Gillian Chung -I was very naive and silly in the past, but I have grown up now

Canto pop singer Gillian Chung Yan-tung, one of the women in the recent celebrity sex photo scandal, broke her silence briefly on February 11th amid a gathering with her fans.
Chung said she regretted the impact that the incident has caused to society as a whole.
"I admit that I was very naive and silly in the past, but I have grown up now," Chung made the speech in the company of Charlene Choi Cheuk-yin, her singing partner in the pop duo "Twins".
"I want to thank my company, family and friends for their concern and support," Chung said.
She did not answer any media questions.
Chung is the second artist involved in the scandal to make a public statement over the incident. Edison Chen Kwoon-hei apologized for the incident through a video last Monday.
"I will continue to work and face my life in a positive manner," she said.
Her fans cheered after she finished the one-minute speech.
One of them said she has never seen the photos, while another said she would not leave the fan club.
Over the internet, however, Chung's speech has sparked frenzied discussion.
"The audiences are all naive too, we are deceived," said dd88_555, an online user, on the mainland forum "Tianya".

What Other's Said?
Another online user melon860411 said, "I used to love Chung, but now I am very disappointed."
Meanwhile, some expressed their support for the 27-year-old artist.

"Please don't focus on the scandal only. They (the celebrities) are also ordinary people. We should tolerate and help them resume normal life," Freeblueworld said.

"They are too young to understand this incident," she said. Ho's 10-year-old child never saw the photos.

Ho added while no single person should be held responsible for the incident, artists should pay more attention to their behavior.

Despite the arrest of the man who allegedly uploaded the photos last Monday, more photos were uploaded onto the internet. Seven females were identified, including Chen's girlfriend Vincy Yeung.

Mani Fok, manager of Chung
Mani Fok, manager of Chung, said the company Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) and Chung would not respond to the incident in the future.
EEG initially claimed in a statement that the images featuring Chung were doctored.
The ninth arrest in relation to the posting of the photos has recently been made. The suspect, a 24-year-old man, was apprehended in Kowloon at 8:00am on Sunday. He was charged last night with distributing erotic photographs on the web and will appear in Kwun Tong Magistracy today

HK cops say earlier photos in Edison Chen scandal appear real

YET another female celebrity has fallen victim to the nude-picture scandal now raging on Hong Kong newstands.

Raunchy images of Hong Kong singer Joey Yung captured in suggestive poses surfaced online on Thursday, the fourth female celebrity to have racy photos supposedly exposed in the media.

But while the other female celebrities have all been romantically linked with Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, Joey has not been known to have been involved with him.

Are the latest pictures genuine?

That is the question police investigators are trying to determine.

The chain of scandal began on Sunday when a compromising photo of Twins star Gillian Chung and EdisonChen appeared in the adult photo section of a Hong Kong forum.

More pictures appeared, one allegedly showing retired singer-actress Bobo Chan performing a sex act on Edison.

Still more pictures followed, this time supposedly showing actress Cecilia Cheung in various states of undress.

MAY BE REAL

Hong Kong police and photo experts who examined the photos involving the first three female celebrities say the photos are unlikely to have been digitally manipulated.

They have the following reasons:

Firstly, they said the lighting and shadows in the background are hard to piece together digitally.

Secondly, the faces and the necks of the celebrities shown do not appear to be digitally joined.

The police also said that because of the low resolution of the photos, they are not ruling out the possibility of the pictures having been taken with a handphone.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife that the marriage of Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse is on the rocks over the scandal.

However, Patrick Tse, Nicholas's father, has refuted these rumours.

A spokesman for Cecilia said the actress hopes the culprit will be apprehended soon.

She also dismissed rumours of her marriage turning sour and said their relationship was good, and thanked everyone for their concern.

There has also been talk that Gillian had attempted suicide following the scandal.

But her manager has explained to the media that Gillian has been given leave to rest following a bout of fever due to the recent cold weather.

The Hong Kong media has recently listed 14 female celebrities who are allegedly at risk of being 'exposed'.

Among them are Elva Hsiao, Jolin Tsai, Maggie Q, Nikki Chow, Rain Li and Rosanne Wong.

These celebrities have all been linked with Edison at some point.

The on-going scandal, along with that involving a Singaporean whose nude pictures have been circulated ever since he joined the Manhunt contest (See report on page10.), raises the question: Why risk being exposed by having nude, compromising pictures taken in the firstplace?

Celebrities and star-wannabees are not alone, said Dr Lionel Lim, a consultant psychiatrist at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre. He said some ordinary people also like to capture themselves on video engaged in sexual acts for various reasons.

Said Dr Lim: 'Some people like to do it because they are curious about what it would be like to be on the other side of the camera.

'There is an element of exhibitionism. They may think they have nice bodies and enjoy looking at themselves, and film themselves for their own private consumption,' he added.

'On the other hand, there are the other group of people who capture themselves in sexual acts as it may increase their arousal,' he said.

DEVIANT

'In such cases, there might be a little bit of a voyeuristic tendency.

'Watching their own videos suggests a voyeuristic tendency while being filmed smacks of exhibitionism,' hesaid.

'Either way, these two tendencies are sexual in nature.

'Whether or not they are considered deviant is dependent on personal values and societal norms,' explained Dr Lim.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... Rank: wait... Traffic: wait... Price: wait... C: wait...