Hong Kong police on Thursday accused a suspect of disseminating obscene content after the town was stirred by the daily upload of erotic photos of Hong Kong singer-actor Edison Chen and his former rumored celebrity girlfriends on local online bulletin board in the past five days.
Twelve involved photos were reportedly found in his computer when the 29-year-old suspect was seized in Yuenlong district Wednesday night.
The man was only a second-hand promulgator and the case will be further investigated, the police said.
Eight other photos were released on the internet during the period when the arrest was taken place.
The scandal started last Sunday when a forum user of hkgolden.com uploaded a seemingly-self-taken erotic shot of a man and a woman in bed, who looked like Edison Chen and one of his rumored ex-girlfriends, "Twins" pop singer Gillian Chung.
Netizens searched from the internet a video clip featuring Chen's home and pointed out its similarities with the background in the photo. An anonymous user left a message, claiming he had seen the snaps before and they leaked out of Chen's laptop when it was sent for repair.
On Monday afternoon, the second photo featuring Chen and model-singer Bobo Chan was published on the forum.
During the following days, more shots of Chen with Gillian Chung and single-person snaps of Cecilia Cheung and Joey Yeung were released on the internet.
Chen's agency EEG Music made a quick response on Monday by filing a complaint with the police and announcing the photos were computer conjoined.
In accordance with local anti-porn laws, websites were requested to delete all related threads. However, a preliminary police appraisal didn't testify the photos' fakeness.
Both Chen and Bobo Chan have reportedly left Hong Kong to cool off. Gillian Chung has avoided making public appearance for days, due to a fever, as her agency claimed.
Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild held an emergency meeting on Tuesday and called on the society to resist the bad trends.
(CRI February 1, 2008)
