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MORAL & ETHICS
What they say
Editorial, Headl
ine News: “The
wide circulation
雅的) photos
of indecent (不
on the Internet hi
gh
lighted its unique
other mass media
nature. Unlike
, Internet has no
‘gatekeeping’ (把
editors in conven
關) by cautio
tion media, who
us
would go throug
about social resp
h deliberation
onsibility before
publishing. By co
one is free to spea
ntrast, everyk on Internet. Whi
le this breeds new
breeds problems.
ideas, it also
”
Naked truth
about
net ethics
Survey shows most netizens do not consider it wrong to circulate nude photos,
writes Janet Wong
Translated by Lon Yan
T
HE publication (發布) and dissemination (散布) of nude photos of artistes has
kicked up a big storm. To contain damage caused by the illegal acts, police and
community leaders have urged the public to refrain
from viewing and further sharing these photos.
However, a survey found 70 per cent of Internet
users do not consider it wrong to pass around these
photos. Some even expressed their support for
“Killer”, the person who first published the photos,
calling him a “martyr” (烈士).
In online chatrooms and forums, people call
each other “good friends”, and openly share pictures. Such conducts have been criticised as “irresponsible” and reflected an inability to tell right
from wrong.
Others, however, countered that Internet is a
place where information should be freely shared.
They said since these photos have been posted on
the web, users have the right to share. Which view
is right?
In the news
THE incident started in late January, when someone posted on an online forum the nude photo of
someone who looks like a well-known artiste. The
photo was quickly passed around, with tens of
thousands of Internet users searching for and further passing it around. The incident swept through
the community like wildfire.
Mad scramble
AFTER the incident came to the attention of the
authorities, police did their best to track down the
person known as “Killer”, who is believed to be
the original source of the photo, and urged the public not to view or further spread the photos, so as to
spare the victims from greater harm.
Yet, a survey found 70 per cent of Internet users
do not consider it wrong to pass around the photos.
They even blamed artiste Edison Chen Kwoon-hei
(陳冠希) saying he should bear the biggest share of
responsibility.
“Communities” on the social networking website Facebook attracted thousands to leave their
email addresses in the hope of receiving the photos.
The photo-seeking activities were at such a
feverish pitch that normal Internet traffic was
paralysed (癱瘓) at one point early this month, as
more than 100,000 Internet users jammed a forum
hoping to get new photos.
Web2.0 WeMedia
SINCE 2000, the Internet has evolved from
Web1.0 to Web2.0. In other words, Internet
becomes more and more interactive, giving rise to
utilities such as blog, YouTube, Wikipedia and chatroom.
Alice Lee Yuet-lin, Department of Journalism, Hong
Kong Baptist University, said the Internet has become
“WeMedia” (草根媒體), meaning the devolvement
of the power of control to the grassroots level, where
everyone is the director and the reporter, but without
having to observe strict ethical rules applied to conventional (傳統的) media workers. The challenge
now is how to introduce ethics on the web.
Immoral conduct
IN real life, most people would consider it immoral (不道德) to snoop into the private affairs of others. However, netizens have a relatively lower
moral standard and may even rationalise (使合理化)
immoral conducts. They believe freedom to share
information is more important than moral responsibility. It has been observed people using Internet
generally lack understanding of the privacy (私隱)
concept, and consider it their right to copy, download or share whatever information they can find.
Seeming anonymity (匿名), a unique nature
of Internet, also creates a false impression in the
minds of its users that their conduct is unsupervised and cannot be traced back to them. Under
such a state of mind, they would engage in immoral conducts they would not normally do. For example, despite their awareness the nude photos were
made public and disseminated without the victims’
consent, they would still try to look for them on
Internet out of curiosity, thus effectively turning
themselves into accomplices (幫兇) of the original
crime, inflicting greater harm on the victims.
Illegal conduct
BEFORE the incident, people mostly associate
computer crimes with hacking (黑客行為). However,
computer crimes are much broader in scope. For
example, accessing a computer with criminal or
dishonest intent is a crime in Hong Kong carrying a
five-year jail term; so is publishing obscene (淫褻的)
material, which is punishable by three years imprisonment and a fine of $1 million.
Pasting the face of an artiste to a photo and
posting it on Internet may bring you libel trouble if it
causes the artiste to be ridiculed. Remedies include
injunction (禁制令) and damages (金錢賠償).
Hong Kong Sex
Culture Society
(香港性文化學會
tion and wide di
): “The public
ssemination of nu
ade photos and vi
engaging in intim
deos of artistes
ate acts devastat
es (摧毀) the life
the artistes (espec
and family of
ially woman artis
te
s), and indirectly
blatant (猖獗的) in
encourages
vasion of privac
y. This is true ir
whom the artiste
re
sp
ective of
s are, whether th
e pictures are prod
tions, or whether
ucts of alterait is meant to chal
lenge police pow
er.”
Mr. Choi Chi-sum
, General Secret
ary of The Societ
and Light (明光社
y for Truth
): “The street
m
ar
ch by netizens w
disregard for wha
as
a display of
t is right and wro
ng, further hurting
by watching their
the victims
ordeal like an inte
resting show.”
C u lt u ra l co m m
en ta to r L eu n g
M an -t ao : “. .. th
world’s ethos is
e In te rn et
sharing. Any info
rm
ation, once upload
of the public dom
ed, is part
ain, and becomes
open, public and
When text, sound,
fr
ee to use.
or photos on the
web are in the pu
how can there be
blic domain,
privacy? Taking
photos without
wrong, stealing th
consent is
e private photos
of others and pu
Internet is definite
tti
ng
them on
ly wrong. Howev
er, whatever is st
ever it is stolen,
olen and howonce uploaded, In
ternet users treat
own. That is why
them as their
someone who m
ay never snoop in
ple’s affairs in th
to other peoe real world wou
ld grab the opportu
more so-called ‘o
nity of seeing
bscene’ photos on
Internet. They sim
the two kinds of
ply can’t see
conducts are the
same.”
An academic: “T
he anonymity of
fered by Internet
into the belief th
leads many
ey do not have to
be
responsible for th
It brings out the
eir actions.
worse in people,
breeding irrespons
Anonymity also
ible conduct.
creates the false
impression everyt
pens in Internet
hing that hapis a game, in whi
ch ethics, integr
wrong are not re
ity, right and
levant, and there
are no restrictions
you do.”
to the things
Columnist, Dr.
David Tsang: “T
he Internet platfo
ethical standards.
rm is eroding
On Internet, peop
le think they can
they like without
do whatever
the restriction of
law or ethics. It is
you can find all
a place where
kinds of opinions
. As it is a virtual
are more willing
space, people
to protect that virtu
al freedom.”
Multi-perspective thinking
1. What role has Internet users played in the nude
photos incident?
2. Why are people behaving with a low regard for
ethics and self-discipline on Internet? Should people
be freer to do what they like on the Internet? Why?
Suggested answers
1. On Internet, information spread with lightning
speed. Such a unique power makes it possible for
hundreds of thousands of people to try to look for
and view the pictures. Such collective action has
escalated (加劇) the incident to its present scale.
The more the people view and talk about the photos, the greater will be the harm to the victims, and
the greater the pressure they would be made to
bear. As such, Internet users who engage in searching, viewing, circulating and discussing these photos are accomplices to the crime.
2. Many people embrace Internet as Utopia for free
speech for providing equal opportunity for everyone to express themselves. However, abuses of
such freedom are blatant. People are taking advantage of the Web’s relative anonymity to engage in
conducts harmful to others and society. Obviously,
people cannot be trusted to exercise self-discipline
(自律) unsupervised. The problems are unlikely to
resolve themselves. Harmful conducts must be punished wherever they are committed.
Thursday, 28 February, 2008
Class voting
WHAT do you think are the intentions of people when
they circulate nude photos of artistes?
1. Taking pleasure in other’s misfortune
This article enables students to:
2. Out of sympathy for the victims
s in handling
1. be aware of the importance of life skill
nce, and
challenges and opportunities during adolesce
n;
isitio
the complexities involved in their acqu
lvement.
2. appreciate the importance of community invo
3. Out of curiosity
4. To reprimand (譴責) the people involved
E06-07