Reporter's "Diving" Investigation: Where did the secretly captured pictures and videos go?, The price of "Original Toilet Auction Internal Group" is 279 yuan

Where have all the secretly taken pictures and videos gone?

Free browsing and traffic attraction for people or online packaging and sales

● Many of the pictures and videos obtained from the sneak shots are uploaded to the Internet and social groups for netizens to browse and guide, and some of them are packaged and sold in the sneak shots groups and social software, making the privacy of the people being snapped become a tool for others to make money

Unauthorized posting of secretly captured images and videos to chat groups is suspected of infringing on the portrait rights, privacy rights, and personal information rights of the person being secretly photographed. The victim has the right to claim civil infringement liability from the perpetrator; Publishing and disseminating secretly captured images and videos is suspected of administrative violations

Stealth filming has formed a complete black industry chain upstream and downstream, including shooting, sales, dissemination, advertising, and group sharing. Comprehensive management in all aspects is imperative

Reporter Han Dandong from this newspaper

Intern Zheng Ting from this newspaper

"It looks good," "It would be better to take photos from a different angle," "Let's follow up later," etc. In a social group where people secretly take photos, the main character is a girl wearing a short skirt. From the photos and videos, it can be seen that the location of the sneak shot was on the crowded subway, and multiple photos were aimed at the sensitive parts of the girl.

The girl picked up her bag and got off the bus when she arrived at the station, while the photographer continued to follow her and upload the secretly taken photos and videos to the group. "If you want to watch more videos, you can add me as a friend and I will continue to follow up on the filming," said the spy. "Remember to like me after everyone finishes watching and gather popularity.".

This is a scene that a journalist from the Legal Daily recently "diving" saw in a social group where he secretly filmed.

Recently, there have been a series of incidents of secret filming. Are the photos and videos taken secretly just to satisfy personal "bad taste", or do they have even more malicious and undisclosed purposes?

According to the reporter's investigation, many of the pictures and videos obtained from the sneak shots were uploaded to the Internet and social groups for netizens to browse and guide, and some were packaged and sold in the sneak shots groups and social software. The privacy of the people who were secretly photographed became a tool for others to make money.

Industry insiders say that the sale of secretly captured images and videos has formed an illegal profit chain, and cutting off this illegal profit chain is urgent.

Share in the group of secretly filmed videos

Selling Dog Meat on the Forum

The internet blogger Yanzi enjoys mountaineering and recently joined a mountaineering social group. Initially, everyone shared mainly landscape photos in the group. Later on, some group members began to post pictures and videos of mountaineering women who were secretly photographed and highlighted their sensitive body parts to the group. Later on, some group members became more and more enthusiastic about secretly taking photos of sensitive parts of women's bodies and commenting on their physique.

"Look at the big legs!" "You're not doing well, look at the one I'm taking."... One by one, sneak photos were posted in the group, and the person who took them appeared proud when faced with compliments from some group members. They even boasted about how they managed to sneak these pictures. The size of the group members has also rapidly expanded, and some netizens who joined have bluntly stated that there are "good things" to see in this group.

"When I saw these dirty pictures, I was so angry that I trembled all over," said the Swallow. The mountaineering exchange group had become a "sneak photo appreciation group," and she argued with the sneak photographers in the group, who looked down upon her.

Such "tasteless" social groups are not uncommon.

The reporter discovered during a social group called "A3" called "Diving" that some group members often send "plagiarism" photos. A group member told reporters that this social group was originally an e-commerce communication group, but later someone posted sneak photos in the group. Some group members were very enthusiastic about this, and the group owner and administrator did not stop it. As a result, more and more sneak photos and videos were uploaded.

On private chat apps, these types of secretly captured images and videos are even more rampant.

The reporter found a group called "Original Street Shooting" on private chat software through search. The group leader called on group members to "create independently" and share their secret shooting results to join the "internal group chat".

The announcement of the "Original Street Shooting" group shows that if there are original works output within the group for 6 consecutive months, or if you have shared more than 100 original street shooting pictures, you can join the "Original Internal Group".

In fact, the reporter saw that the so-called "original street photos" uploaded in the group were mostly secretly filmed at subway stations, elevators, and other places, with the camera focused on the private parts of women.

Some website forums are also gathering places and carnival places for eavesdroppers. On a forum called "I Love XX Network", there are four partition options distributed on the website interface: Street Photo New Area, Street Photo Image Area, High Quality Image Area, and Station Management Area. Newly registered users can only enter the street photography newcomer area and upgrade by posting, sharing pictures, and accumulating experience in order to access browsing permissions in other areas.

In the street photography of the newcomer area, it is entirely selling dog meat while hanging sheep's heads. The pictures posted on it are mostly secretly taking pictures of women's private parts, such as the bottom of their skirts. The location of the secretly taken photos includes but is not limited to subway, conference rooms, shopping malls, etc.

Some netizens commented that eavesdroppers and onlookers enjoy a distorted sense of gain in the process of infringing on the privacy rights of others.

Package and sell secretly captured resources

Unlocking with clear pricing and payment

During the investigation, the reporter found that some of the secretly taken pictures and videos had entered illegal sales channels.

On a certain private chat software, the reporter searched through phrases and found and joined a group called "Coping Resources". The group members occasionally uploaded video clips of secretly taking photos under their skirts, and below each video clip, there was a network link accompanied by the text: paid group distribution page.

The reporter clicks on the link and the page jumps to the browser. This is an online shopping page, with several pictures of beautiful women in the product details, and a green "automatic shipping" logo in the upper left corner. The webpage shows that the prices of both the "toilet auction paid group" and the "bottom copying paid group" are 135 yuan, while the price of the "original toilet auction internal group" is 279 yuan.

On some social media platforms, there is also information about selling stolen photos and videos.

The reporter saw on a certain short video platform that in the comment section of some handsome men and beautiful women's videos, many users posted content such as "Click on my profile picture to see exciting content.". The reporter clicked on one of the users' homepage and found that there was only one website link inside. After clicking on it, a QR code and group number appeared, guiding them to other chat apps.

After joining the group, the reporter found that the group administrator had already activated the full ban mode, and only the group owner had sent a few pictures, which were introductions and price lists of different "resources". Among them, a collection of secretly filmed videos was prominently listed.

In these so-called "eating melon groups" and "welfare groups", group owners will use the banner of distributing benefits and selling resources to package and sell sneak photos and videos, including toilet sneak photos, subway sneak photos, and even couples opening rooms. The reporter saw in a social group that the group owner posted a swipe message: "Today's special offer, sneak photos, bottom copying the latest collection, 65GB!" The group owner also repeatedly emphasized that all sales resources in the group are preview versions. If you need to purchase, you can privately chat with the administrator or group owner.

When users want to purchase secret shooting resources, after chatting with the administrator or group leader, they need to first scan the payment code provided by the administrator or group leader. After the money is received, they will receive the network disk link sent to download and watch.

The reporter saw in the preview image provided by the group leader that the 65GB "sneak shot resources" are divided into 90 folders according to different types, each containing hundreds of videos and a large number of images. Some of the people being sneak shot have clear and visible appearances.

According to Xiao Ni, who has been working in website operations for many years, secretly taking videos and pictures can be easily found on paid websites. Users can recharge and purchase the currency on the website to unlock the download permission of the secretly taking resource package.

He provided a website called "XX Forum" to the reporter, and upon opening it, you can see that there are a large number of secretly captured videos and pictures in the forum. The homepage's promotional bar also scrolls to play "A large collection of secretly captured photos, 20 coins".

The reporter found in the forum that some of these secretly filmed videos and photos were taken through pinhole cameras in hotels, while others were taken with handheld secretly filmed devices.

According to Xiao Ni, these secretly filmed videos or images are mainly uploaded or sold by the secretly filmed individuals to the group owners of the group, who then package and resell them. In addition, illegal transactions also include "private customization", where someone pays the photographer to secretly take a certain type of high-definition, no code photo or video according to their requirements.

Suspected of infringing multiple rights

Strengthening supervision and comprehensive governance

"Is it illegal to secretly take and publish photos and videos? How to cut off the chain of sharing and selling photos and videos online?" said Yan Zi. This is also a question for many netizens.

In this regard, Zhang Yanxia, a senior partner of Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, believes that shooting without the consent of the other party is illegal. Even if it is not posted on the internet, it has already infringed on the person's right to peace of life and privacy. If you secretly take photos of sensitive and private parts of others, it is suspected of violating the Public Security Administration Punishment Law or even the Criminal Law.

According to the provisions of the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments, activities such as peeping, filming, eavesdropping, and spreading the privacy of others are considered acts of infringement of personal rights, and shall be detained for no more than 5 days or fined no more than 500 yuan; Those with serious circumstances shall be detained for not less than 5 days but not more than 10 days, and may also be fined not more than 500 yuan.

Professor Zhu Xiaofeng from the Law School of Central University of Finance and Economics told reporters that sending secretly captured pictures and videos to chat groups without the consent of others and without special legal circumstances is suspected of infringing on the portrait rights, privacy rights, and personal information rights of the person being secretly photographed. The victim has the right to claim civil infringement liability from the perpetrator, such as stopping the infringement, compensating for losses, and apologizing. In addition, the publication and dissemination of secretly captured images and videos are suspected of administrative violations.

"If the content of images or videos involves personal information, including but not limited to name, work unit, home address, ID number, and travel information, it may also infringe on the personal information of citizens, and corresponding civil liability should be borne. If the images or videos containing the private parts of others are disseminated, it is considered a crime and generally constitutes the crime of disseminating obscene materials." said Qin Ketian, Deputy Director of the Information Network and High tech Legal Affairs Department of Beijing Yingke Law Firm.

How to cut off the chain of illegal sales of secretly captured images and videos? Xing Hongfei, a police officer from the Cybersecurity Detachment of Xiangyang Public Security Bureau in Hubei Province, believes that strictly speaking, electronic images and videos are not physical goods. When secretly taking photos forms a complete illegal industry chain, this behavior is not only driven by personal desires, but also driven by interests. Legally speaking, if the goods sold by profiteers or sales agents involve pornographic content, they may be suspected of criminal offenses.

"Stealth filming has formed a complete black industry chain upstream and downstream, including shooting, sales, dissemination, advertising, and group sharing. From a legal perspective, legal responsibilities and governance methods vary for different links in the black industry chain, and comprehensive governance in all aspects is imperative." said Zhu Wei, Deputy Director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law.

Zhu Wei said that the Civil Code specifically stipulates "self-help behavior". If the victim discovers that someone is secretly taking photos of themselves, or even uploading the secretly taken videos or pictures online, they can, while ensuring safety, stop and report the case in accordance with the law, and wait for the public security organs to handle it later. If the victim fails to be vigilant at the first moment of being secretly photographed, but later discovers that the stolen photos or videos have been disseminated online, they can also protect their rights in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code, and require the platform to promptly delete relevant infringing photos and videos in accordance with the "notice deletion" rule.

"As a platform serving as a network service provider, it should strictly fulfill its legal responsibilities in accordance with the law, and strengthen its legal obligations in daily inspections, acceptance of reports, and account management. Once such information dissemination, group activities, or illegal trading activities are discovered during inspections or through reports, necessary measures should be taken in a timely manner and transferred to the public security organs for filing and processing in accordance with the law." Zhu Wei said.