Edison Chen photo scandal

In 2008, intimate and private photographs of Hong Kong actor Edison Chen with various women, including actresses Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan, Rachel Ngan, and Cecilia Cheung, were unlawfully distributed over the Internet.

Many local newspapers headlined the story consecutively during the first fortnight of February 2008, relegating coverage of the 2008 Chinese winter storms to secondary prominence during Lunar New Year.

In a crackdown that itself became a controversial item, the Hong Kong police enlisted the assistance of Interpol to stem the spread of the photographs.

He made a public apology, especially to the women involved, and also announced that he would "step away indefinitely" from the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

[15] The first intimate photograph, with likenesses of Chen and Gillian Chung, was posted on the Hong Kong Discuss Forum at approximately 8:30 p.m. on 27 January 2008.

Chung's management agency, Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), immediately challenged its authenticity, and filed a police report.

[23] At this time I am not able to discuss matters related to the case, but I do feel it is my obligation to accept full responsibility and take action to help both the victims and those associated with them to heal their wounds.

Furthermore, to completely rid the images from your computer... After the exposure of the eighth photograph, Chen quietly left Hong Kong and flew to Boston.

[38][39] Investigations were said to have been hampered by Chen's caution, and by the lack of co-operation of the "new" female victims: some had left town, and one had already publicly denied her involvement.

[38] Over the course of the two-week period, a total of over a hundred images each of Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan, Candice Chan, and Cecilia Cheung fellating him were exposed, as well as Chen performing cunnilingus to Chung; there were also approximately another hundred nude photos featuring various others, namely Mandy Chen, Rachel Ngan, Maggie Q[40][unreliable source?]

On 31 January 2008, an unemployed man identified as 29-year-old Chung Yik-tin (鍾亦天) was arrested for allegedly uploading one image;[41] 12 pictures were found on his computer.

[44] On 4 February, a 29-year-old man became the eighth person to be detained in connection with the disseminating of nude photos;[3] 23-year-old Sze Ho-Chun (史可雋) was also arrested.

[47] Kwok Chun-wai, a 24-year-old logistics clerk, had allegedly posted the link to a local discussion forum after uploading a compressed file containing over a hundred images to a site in Cyprus.

A crackdown began in neighbouring Guangdong province on the manufacturing, selling and spreading the CD-ROMs of the celebrity photos,[53] which sold "like hotcakes" in Shenzhen.

[56] A Taiwanese man aged 24, Huang Wei-lun, was arrested in Taipei County on suspicion of posting the explicit photos and videos in his blog and instructing net surfers how to download the images.

[58] On 2 February, Commissioner of Police Tang King Shing warned that anyone with the pictures on their computer could be in breach of the law, even if there was no record of distribution.

[63][64] The local Chairman of the Internet Society and legislator Regina Ip said that it was inevitable that police would apply the law selectively, for it would be impractical to take action against every person who had committed an offence in Hong Kong.

[67] A commentary in Apple Daily decried the "clear intimidation of netizens" by the police, and for arresting people without bringing the alleged main source and victim (Chen) for interrogation.

[68] Ming Pao revealed on 14 February that it had received interim classification from the Obscene Articles Tribunal (OAT) relating to five photographs it had submitted for opinion.

An assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong questioned whether an amended charge of "Publishing an Indecent Article" applied to photographs uploaded onto the Internet.

A team of four lawyers and a magistrate were thus flown out to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for a hearing beginning on 23 February 2009 at taxpayers' expense.

[70] During the hearing, which was presided over by Supreme Court of British Columbia Justice Elaine Adair, with Hong Kong's Chief Magistrate Tong Man (唐文) as co-commissioner,[71] Chen confirmed that Cecilia Cheung, Gillian Chung, Bobo Chan and Rachel Ngan were indeed involved.

The involvement of local celebrities led to complaints that the wave of arrests were indicative of a legal double standard:[74] protesters claimed that the police failed to investigate other cases of nude photos being published without their subject's permission.

They petitioned the police to apologise publicly, to release Chung Yik-tin, to stop "an abuse of power",[76] and also demanded the resignation of Commissioner Tang.

[82] The Los Angeles Times reported that Pepsi China, Standard Chartered Bank, Samsung, Levi's and the Hong Kong Metro, had dropped Chen or declined to renew ad campaigns involving him.

On 12 March 2009, after Chen had appeared at a publicity event in Singapore, a threatening letter said to have originated in the US containing a bullet was delivered to a Cable TV station mailbox.

[94] On 26 February 2008, the South China Morning Post, citing the Dalian Evening News, reported that Chung and Nicholas Tse (husband of Cecilia Cheung) had been dropped from the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony by artistic director Zhang Yimou.

[99] Interviewed in an episode of TVB's Be My Guest in March 2009, Chung admitted she loved Chen, and let him take photos of them engaging in sex because she feared to lose him.

[100][101] It was reported that Chung, under contract with Emperor Entertainment Group in 2008, did not receive any salary for the duration of the scandal,[102][103] and even struggled to pay rent.

[110] The Tribunal returned an interim classification of "Class I", meaning the magazines were "neither obscene nor indecent", and TELA demanded a full public hearing to review its decision.