On June 6, Zhao Huan from Wuhan was on the escalator at the subway exit when she found a man behind her secretly photographing the bottom of her skirt with her mobile phone. Zhao Huan, who was angry and afraid, called the police, and the secretly photographed person was administratively detained by the local police for 28 days.
Zhao Huan's experience is not unique. An investigation by a reporter from the Beijing News found that since the beginning of this year, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Ningbo, Changsha and other places have been exposed by the media as secretly photographed. The locations of clandestine photography are mainly on crowded public transportation such as subways and buses, as well as shopping malls, teaching buildings and other public places, and even clandestine photographers sneak into women's toilets to take secret photos.
The secret photography of women's privacy has formed a black industry chain. Secretly filmed people upload secretly taken videos and pictures to specific websites, middlemen purchase videos for resource integration, establish private domain group chats, and sell videos to downstream buyers through paid membership.
In order to crack down on clandestine photography, local police have continuously intensified their crackdown in recent years. Since June 2022, 6, Beijing police have carried out "wolf hunting operations" to severely crack down on illegal crimes such as indecency, secret photography, and voyeurism, which are high in summer. Since June this year, the Hangzhou Metro Public Security has announced the details of punishments for six indecent assault cases and invasion of privacy.
Ye Xiaoshan, a lawyer at Beijing Zebo Law Firm, said that the act of clandestine photography infringes on women's privacy and violates many laws. If women find that they have been secretly photographed, they should report to the police in time to protect their rights and interests, so that the violators can be punished.
Recurring candid photography
At about 6 o'clock on June 23, Zhou Xinyi, who had dinner, and her husband Guo Yue came to Beijing Sun Palace Park for a walk. Later, she entered the public toilet in the park. Just seconds after entering, she heard two "clicks". Feeling strange, Zhou Xinyi adjusted the mobile phone to the camera mode and stretched out from under the door, and filmed a man lying on the ground, his hands supporting the ground, tilting his head to peek through the gap.
Seeing that he was discovered, the man jumped up and ran, and Zhou Xinyi immediately opened the door and chased out, and grabbed the other party. The man looked to be in his 60s, Zhou Xinyi grabbed his arm and shouted for help, and Guo Yue called the police. The police found a photo of Zhou Xinyi going to the toilet on the elderly man's mobile phone.
Coincidentally, Yang Shuqing told the Beijing News reporter that on May 5, she accidentally found on the bus she was riding that the man wearing a cape and mask sitting in front of her on the right frequently looked back at the other three girls, and then held his arms with both hands, put his mobile phone on his left shoulder with his right hand, and secretly filmed a video.
Yang Shuqing immediately reminded the girl who was secretly photographed, and asked the girl together whether the man was secretly filming. After being exposed, the man was obviously a little panicked, first hiding his mobile phone to deny secretly taking pictures, and only apologizing and admitting his mistake after being blocked by the girl.
When the girl asked him to delete the video, Yang Shuqing saw that there were other secretly taken photos on his mobile phone. Yang Shuqing and others did not choose to call the police. "Because everyone was at a loss at that time, the secretly photographer deleted the photo and did not call the police."
The Beijing News reporter combed and found that these two incidents of secretly photographing women were not unique. Since the beginning of this year, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Ningbo, Changsha and other places have been exposed by the media as secretly photographing incidents. The location of clandestine photography is mainly in crowded public transportation such as subways and buses, but also in public places such as shopping malls and teaching buildings, and even some clandestine photographers sneak into women's toilets to take women's private photos and videos.
Xu Ning, a graduate student in Hangzhou, once posted her experience of being secretly photographed on the bus on social media, and she recalled to the Beijing News reporter how she was secretly photographed.
Xu Ning and her boyfriend took the bus from Sudi Station to Jiuxi Station to the park to enjoy the flowers. After getting on the bus, when the two walked to the back of the bus, Xu Ning saw a middle-aged man about 40 years old holding a mobile phone to shoot her chest. After looking at Xu Ning, the middle-aged man immediately turned his mobile phone out of the car. Xu Ning suspected that she had been secretly photographed, and after she told her boyfriend, his boyfriend stepped forward to ask to check the middle-aged man's mobile phone, and sure enough, he found the secretly taken photos in the album.
After getting out of the car, Xu Ning and her boyfriend were worried that the secretly photographer was a habitual offender and would continue to secretly photograph others, and the two called the police.
Also said on social media that he had experienced secret photography was Zhao Huan in Wuhan.
Zhao Huan recalled to the Beijing News reporter that on June 6, he took the subway to work. When standing on the escalator at the exit of the subway station, I noticed a man behind me. Zhao Huan said that the escalator was very long, there were only two people at the time, but the man was very close to her. She suspected that the man was secretly taking pictures, and when she turned around, she saw that the man's mobile phone had reached the bottom of her skirt. Zhao Huan questioned the man loudly. Since the man was only one arm away from Zhao Huan, Zhao Huan was angry and scared, and only called the police when he got down to the subway.
The man who secretly photographed Zhao Huan first fled, and then returned to turn himself in. The police told Zhao Huan that the man admitted to being a habitual offender. But before he turned himself in, he had deleted all the photos and videos he had taken. Eventually, the man was placed in administrative detention for 3 days.
Paid vs. Free
Where did these secretly photographed pictures and videos end up?
An investigation by a reporter from the Beijing News found that in a private chat software, there are a large number of group chats that share and sell women's private pictures and videos. In this dark web, this act of secretly photographing women's skirts is known as bottom hunting or CD. A large number of users enter group chats, watch or get these videos through paid invitations.
The Beijing News reporter entered a group chat.
In a video posted by the group, girls in short denim skirts and white T-shirts are lining up on the platform to enter the station, and the announcer can be heard reporting the name of a subway station in Shanghai. Without the girl noticing, the bottom of the skirt has been photographed by the peek behind her. Similar candid videos are updated and released in group chats every day.
Group chats are usually divided into two categories, one is a free preview group, where the group administrator posts full-body photos and skirt photos or short videos of girls who have been secretly taken. The video is updated from time to time, and the main function is to attract members to take the initiative to chat group administrators and pay to join the member group. "The group is only the tip of the iceberg, and high-quality resources are in the member group." The group administrator declared.
The other category is paid membership groups, the price is usually less than 200 yuan, and users are invited to enter the group chat after paying the fee.
The Beijing News reporter asked about the specific content of the paid group, and the group administrator Zhang said, "The content of the paid group is ten times more than the preview group, and it is all videos." The reporter asked if there was only one type, and Zhang replied, "There is a lot of content in it, if you feel that there is only one type, you will look down on us too much." ”
The Beijing News reporter entered a member group that continuously updated multiple videos every day or two. The video records the whole process of women being scavenged, and the video is more than one minute short and seven or eight minutes long. The candid photographer first shot the woman's whole body and clothing, including a close-up of the face, without mosaics, and then shot the skirt in a close-up.
Many secretly taken photos or videos in the group will have a short introduction. Such descriptions are often filled with insulting descriptions. The group administrator will also classify the women in the video by dress style, appearance and other characteristics, and summarize them with words such as "black silk beauty, short skirt JK dress, dress girl" and other words.
The Beijing News reporter found that the members of these group chats ranged from hundreds to tens of thousands.
Hidden industrial chain
An investigation by a reporter from the Beijing News found that secretly photographing women's privacy and then selling it has formed a complete black industry chain, and professional photographers, middlemen, and buyers have formed a chain of interests to make profits by selling women's privacy videos and pictures.
In this chain, professional photographers belong upstream. A number of photographers told the Beijing News reporter that the famous secret photographers are called "masters", and they have specific English abbreviated names and code names, which are difficult for outsiders to identify.
Li Jian is a person who claims to have shot a lot of bottom-copying videos, "updating 20-30 videos every month, not shooting safety pants", he claimed that the secretly filmed videos are "pure original high-quality works", "all the heroines show their faces, only pick 20-30 years old beautiful women, mostly college students." ”
The Beijing News reporter found that in the group chat video, the most common places to take secret photos are subways, shopping malls and pedestrian streets, especially jewelry stores, beauty stores, and clothing stores. In the video, it can be judged that the candid photographer followed closely behind the woman, trailing a distance to take advantage of the opportunity. In the subway secretly filmed video, the secretly filmed person generally follows behind the woman when waiting for the train, in the carriage, and when transferring, and will also take the escalator by taking advantage of the height difference between the upper and lower levels. In addition, auto shows, comic conventions, and music festivals are also "hardest hit areas" for candid photography. In some videos, the sneaker will even lift the female skirt from behind to shoot, "The skirt from behind is really imperceptible, you may think it is the wind." One merchant said that the footage of the sole is usually hidden in backpacks, handbags and shoes.
The above-mentioned merchant said that the two ordinary black backpacks, after modification, were completely invisible from the appearance that there was a pinhole camera hidden on the bag. The reporter saw that several photos of the modified pinhole camera equipment showed that the miniature camera was hidden in the cross gap of the screw, and it was difficult to see clearly without looking closely. Such a set of miniature lens modules costs 399 yuan.
According to multiple group operators, "masters" usually upload private videos on paid websites, and continuously update and sell them, and website users can download videos after recharging. According to Xiaoxiang Morning News, the "master" shares profits with the website. The usual ratio is that the website gets 40% of the revenue share, and the "guru" takes 60%.
One group operator said that original videos were shipped on paid websites, and a video made a profit of as much as 1000,2000 yuan to <>,<> yuan.
The middle stream of the industrial chain is the middleman. Under normal circumstances, the operators of each paid membership group are middlemen. They collect and buy original videos from everywhere, and then resell them to downstream buyers through a paid invitation system to earn the difference. In Li Jian's words, "It's equivalent to doing nothing, just sorting out these videos and making money from you (buyers)." ”
The video will be resold many times. A downstream buyer revealed that someone goes to a paid website to download it once a month, and after integration, it is sold, and the lower the (chain) goes, the cheaper it gets. He buys an issue from others once a month, more than 30 videos, a total of more than 10 yuan. "You can get hundreds of yuan of resources, all sold by others I don't know how many times." A group operator said.
A reporter from the Beijing News went undercover to join a "bottom-reading collection preview group". The group manager divided the videos into 26 series through the photographer, shooting time, shooting location, activities, etc., with a total of more than 7000,<> videos. The selling price ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan, and the newer and more numerous the shooting, the higher the price. After payment, you can join the group chat to watch online, or you can obtain packaged resources through cloud disks. The group manager said, "I am in Amsterdam, all resources are legal with me, and there is no need to worry about resource failure and after-sales problems." ”
There is also a category of candid photographers who create crowdfunding group chats for a specific event, such as high-traffic car shows, comic exhibitions where young people gather, and music festivals. After the buyer pays, they can see the candid video on the day of the event.
The Beijing News reporter found that the above groups are constantly entering people every day. A group manager told reporters that in order to run the group, he had to use computers for at least 145 hours a day. In addition to the bottom-hunting group, the administrator of this type of group also operates multiple groups such as toilet photography groups, hotel secretly photographed groups, and bathhouse secretly photographed groups.
A reporter from the Beijing News searched and found that the bottom-reading video circulates in the domestic interactive community, and resource holders, buyers and sellers are secretly active and deeply hidden. Search for the English abbreviated name of a secretly photographed "master" in Baidu Tieba and you can see that many Tieba netizens have posted for resources. This abbreviation is highly hidden, and a threshold is required for identification.
Some posts said, "There is a complete work of a certain master, what is needed comes." At the bottom of the post, some netizens will send their QQ numbers or QQ mailboxes, and write "Ask for the complete collection" and "exchange". They generally use QQ mailboxes, various online disks, etc. to buy, sell and exchange resources. Some netizens told reporters that there are hundreds of gigabytes of resources that can be exchanged, "With a network disk, remember to compress it twice, and it is easy to be blocked once." ”
People who circulate bottom-hunting resources also have a relatively strong sense of anti-reconnaissance. The Beijing News reporter added a certain bottom-copying resource group owner from QQ, and the group owner asked the reporter to add friends through another chat software and then reminded, "Delete QQ, don't leave a record." ”
"Don't be afraid, catch him"
After the secret photography incident, the girls took different ways to solve it.
Thinking back afterwards, Yang Shuqing blamed himself a little and did not call the police to continue to hold the secretly filmers accountable. "I'm quite angry with myself, I think that the sneaker was not punished at all."
After Xu Ning called the police, the police said after understanding the situation that the way to call the police was correct. If the girl finds that she has been secretly photographed, she can directly ask the secretly photographer to delete the photo if she is accompanied by someone. If you are alone, you can call the police immediately.
The police told Xu Ning, "Some people will use the excuse of taking pictures of scenery and happened to photograph you." A citizen has the right to take pictures in public, you have no right to prevent him from taking them, but you have the right to delete photos about you. ”
And Zhou Xinyi is insisting that the sneakers pay.
On June 6, Guo Yue came to the police station to get the administrative punishment decision on the secret filming incident. The punishment decision shows that Shi was sentenced to 25 days of public security detention.
But Guo Yue found that Shi had only been detained for one day. The police handling the case explained to Guo Yue that because Shi was 68 years old, suffering from a number of underlying diseases and age, the detention center was not allowed to take him into custody, and Shi was released after receiving oral education.
On the afternoon of June 6, a reporter from the Beijing News called the Sun Palace Police Station of the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau, and a staff member said that it was inconvenient to be interviewed.
Zhou Xinyi's usual personality is relatively quiet, and she describes herself as "stupid and will not quarrel with others". But in the face of this secret shoot, Zhou Xinyi felt that she was "quite tough".
After the secret photography incident, Zhou Xinyi did not close her eyes for several nights. Repeatedly thinking about being secretly photographed, hands trembling, easy to be nervous and afraid, and difficulty concentrating. She checks that the door is locked every day before going to bed. When she went out and saw someone about Shi's age, she would hide away. "Although I know that they are innocent, I will subconsciously think of Shi."
On the afternoon of June 6, Zhou Xinyi came to the Chaoyang District People's Court to file a civil lawsuit against Shi.
Zhou Xinyi said that rights protection not only has a certain deterrent effect on secretly photographing and voyeurism, but also makes secretly photographers realize that "not all people will only swallow their anger in the face of secretly taking pictures, and also tell those boys or girls who encounter this kind of thing, don't be afraid, catch him!" ”
Lawyer: The clandestine photographer has been suspected of violating multiple laws
Ms. Ye, a lawyer who is passionate about advocating for women's rights, said that candid photography refers to taking photos or videos without the permission of the other party. The content of secretly filmed and secretly photographed on different occasions is different, and the nature of the behavior is also different. Article 1033 of the Civil Code stipulates that except as otherwise provided by law or with the express consent of the right holder, no organization or individual may photograph or peep into the intimate parts of others' bodies.
Ye Xiaoshan said that the videos in the group chat mainly secretly photographed women's private parts, and the secretly filmed violated the Civil Code and violated women's privacy rights, and the women filmed could file a civil lawsuit to demand compensation, apologize, stop the infringement, etc. At the same time, this act of secretly photographing the privacy of others also violates the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, and women can report to the public security organs, and the public security organs will impose corresponding administrative punishments on the secretly photographed.
Ye Xiaoshan mentioned that in addition to violating the Civil Code and the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, the secret photographer photographing women's private parts in the toilet, uploading the photos or videos taken to the Internet, or downloading such photos or videos for sale and dissemination, in addition to violating the Civil Code and the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, may also violate the Criminal Law, constituting the crime of disseminating pornographic materials or the crime of spreading pornographic materials for profit.
It is understood that in recent years, in order to crack down on clandestine photography, local police have continuously increased their crackdown.
Since June 2017, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Bus Corps has set up "wolf hunting teams" at several police stations to crack down on "satyrs" who are nuisance in the subway.
According to Beijing Daily, since the launch of the "2022-day operation" to crack down on summer public security on June 6, 25, Beijing police have carried out "wolf hunting operations" to severely crack down on illegal crimes such as indecency, secretly photographing, and voyeurism, which are high in summer, and have cracked down on and dealt with a total of 221 people involved in related cases.
Since 2018, the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau Bus Branch has set up a subway plainclothes team. In the subway station, the police on duty in the subway patrol armed and plainclothes police patrol and control, carrying out special operations to combat subway indecency. The police have invested a large number of subway plainclothes police forces during the morning and evening rush hours and on lines with frequent cases, paying attention to and discovering abnormal behavior personnel who are following women, and promptly discovering, stopping and arresting current illegal suspects.
Since June this year, the Hangzhou Metro Public Security has announced the details of punishments for six indecent assault cases and invasion of privacy. The punished persons in the case molested or used mobile phones to secretly photograph female passengers on the subway, and the public security organs imposed administrative detention on the punished persons for varying days in accordance with the law.
(In the text, Zhou Xinyi, Guo Yue, Yang Shuqing, Xu Ning, Zhao Huan, and Li Jian are pseudonyms)
(Beijing News reporter Qiao Chi, intern Cheng Ran)