The emergence of China as an economic superpower

Edison Chen and Gillian Chung's (not to forget Cecilia Cheung, Bobo Chan and even Joey Yung) sex scandal has made headlines for seven straight days in Hong Kong, with no signs of slowdown before Chinese New Year. With this update, I intend to provide those who are still interested in this whole thing a more up-to-date (and more factual) take on the drama, and to those who are getting a little tired of the scandal, the grander scale of this whole issue -- how it affects us and our freedom of speech.

With the frenzy clearing out a little, EastSouthNorthWest, Hong Kong's premier English blogger, got the scoop on what really happened. The story, as printed in Hong Kong's media, was as follows: Edison Chen sent his computer (a pink Apple Powerbook) to a computer tech shop in Central District for repairs. The technician was casually browsing through the material on the hard disk when he made the "accidential discovery." He scanned and copied the data and stored it in his computer for his "own enjoyment." Then, after one night of mahjong and bragging, he showed his friends the pictures, who then peer pressured him to post them online. Yet he did not post the pictures online, his female friend did so on his behalf.

And that was the beginning of the end. One week and two days later, more than 20 real photographs have surfaced, 8 people were apprehended, numerous forum posts had been "harmonized", hundreds or thousands more bedroom photographs were taken into evidence from countless computers and hard drives, Edison Chen composed arrogant blog and Youtube video posts, Gillian Chung is said to have tried committing suicide, and tons and tons of nude photos resurfacing on the other side of the globe. How out of control has this become? Who has the right to control such a situation?

Hong Kong Police, or now known as Hong Kong's Big Brother, has taken matters into their own hands. Whenever the government interferes with the free press, controversy ensues. Hunting down the perpetrator with the help of Interpol requires some justification, but what is that justification? That someone had posted nude pictures online in Hong Kong? Easily, on any given day, thousands of netizens in Hong Kong post obscene pictures online in internet forums, so why should we selectively prosecute some and not others? Even if we take Chen and Chung's celebrity status into account, why hasn't Interpol taken apart the infrastructure of the internet over naked pictures of Paris Hilton or Vanessa Hudgens? What makes C-list artistes from a microcosm of 6 million more important than actresses from a country of 300 million? To summarize, why the big fuss over some pictures? It's already out, let it be.

Besides, everyone (who is interested) already has the pictures of said artistes stored somewhere, maybe on a computer, on a print out or a neuron in a human brain. To quote EastSouthWestNorth, "Apple Daily also published the name of an America-based Chinese-language overseas student website on which the photographs continue to be available for viewing and commenting.  You copy the name of that webpage from the Apple Daily, search for it on Google, read a few pages and you will arrive at those photographs conveniently compressed for downloading." Stopping the flow of information is like the United States' (rather unsuccessful) attempt to stop Al Qaeda posting jihad messages online. Maybe the Hong Kong Police should consider taking everyone in Hong Kong into custody, at which point the whole fiasco may finally tune itself down.

It's a sad week in Hong Kong, it really is. Again, my position is not that I'm endorsing the pornographic mishaps of Hong Kong celebrities or its theft or even its replication and duplication online, but I think it's about time that Hong Kong's core democratic and judicial values put this whole event into perspective. Listen to Sun Bin: a 29-year-old unemployed male, who is still living with his parents, was the first suspect apprehended in this scandal. He does not have a criminal record and his mother posted the bail. Yet the magistrate rejected the request for bail because "the photograph caused great harm." What kind of logic is that? Even CEOs who commit billions of dollars of fraud on behalf of other people's money can post bail. The picture above is of the said magistrate. If you live in Hong Kong and see him around, thank him for assisting in the destruction of one of the world's freest cities.

That is all. If any celebrity's twisted hobby can become a poor man's demise, then Edison Chen's sex scandal shall be the forerunner that will soon render the freedom of speech meaningless.