Man installs pinhole camera equipment to secretly shoot others' private videos, more than 600 people suffer
Who frequently happened in the hotel
● In recent years, there have been frequent sneak shots in hotels. Many criminals secretly installed pinhole cameras in hotel rooms to spy on the privacy of others.
● If the hotel fails to fulfill its security guarantee obligations and causes damage to others, it shall bear tort liability. The hotel industry should learn from the lesson, promote the safety of guests to an important position in hotel management, formulate more stringent safety standards and safety measures and put them into action
● For those who illegally manufacture, buy and sell eavesdropping and photo-piracy equipment, severe sanctions should be taken to ensure that even if someone wants to buy, no one will dare to sell, completely blocking the source
□ Our reporter Han Dandong
□ Yin Yushuang, an intern in this newspaper
Recently, the People's Procuratorate of Gulou District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province has prosecuted a case of illegal eavesdropping and stolen special equipment according to law. Since July last year, the man Chen installed 4 sets of pinhole camera equipment purchased online in 4 hotel rooms, and used the App to remotely watch, record and store private videos of others, including more than 40 sex videos, involving the victim. More than 600 people.
At present, the related equipment has been dismantled and Chen Mou has been captured by the public security organ. The Gulou District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution against Chen for the illegal use of special equipment for stealing photos.
In recent years, there have been frequent sneak shots in hotels. Many criminals secretly installed pinhole cameras in hotel rooms to spy on the privacy of others. What's more, they even sent videos to the Internet. How should such behavior be legally characterized? How to blame for the frequent occurrence of hotel candid photos? "Legal Daily" reporter interviewed this.
Hotel candid photography cases occur frequently
Suspected of violating multiple laws
In fact, there are many cases of hotel candid camera shooting.
In November 2019, Anhui man Dumou was criminally detained by the police. It is understood that Dumou has been buying equipment online since 2017, and then stayed in the hotel's daily rental room to install a pinhole camera to perform remote control shooting and captured a large number of guests' privacy screens. Until he was captured by the police, he had 500G related videos and screenshots on his computer.
In June 2019, when a citizen of Zhengzhou checked into a hotel in Zhengzhou, he found a pinhole camera hidden in a five-hole socket next to the TV on the wall.
In January 2019, a citizen of Xi'an found a pinhole camera in a socket in the room after staying in a hotel near a university. The lens was facing the bed. There was a 16G memory card in it. After removing it, the camera was found. Almost 1,200 videos have been recorded.
In this regard, Zhang Xingshui, director of Beijing Jingding Law Firm, said that the behavior of citizens after staying in a hotel belongs to the scope of private life. If these behaviors are secretly photographed and recorded, it not only violates the privacy and privacy of citizens, but also may cause them The right of reputation, the right of honor, the right of portrait, etc. are damaged to varying degrees. If the victim's name is disclosed, or the relevant video is circulated on the Internet and recognized, it will infringe the victim's right to name and portrait. If the outflow of the video triggers social discussion, it will further infringe the victim's right to honor and honor. Especially if the victim is a female, it will cause serious damage to the personal rights and personality rights of female citizens.
Zhang Xinbao, a professor at the School of Law of Renmin University of China, said: "Sneaking photos of guests’ activities in private places is both suspected of infringing on citizens ’privacy and crimes of infringing on citizens’ personal information. Nine) are all crimes of infringing on citizens ’personal information. From a negative point of view, they are mainly manifested as mental damage and some property losses caused by the injured guests in order to protect their rights."
Zhang Xingshui believes that such cases are mainly suspected of violating three laws. First of all, Article 284 of the Criminal Law stipulates that illegal use of special equipment for eavesdropping and photo-piracy, which causes serious consequences, shall be punishable by imprisonment of not more than two years, detention or control. Article 253 of the Criminal Law stipulates that, in violation of relevant state regulations, selling or providing personal personal information to others, if the circumstances are serious, it shall be punished with fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or detention, and shall be punished with a single fine; Term of imprisonment of more than three years and less than seven years, and fines. Secondly, personal information mainly contains identity card information, including name, age, identity, location of household registration, etc. If the information about citizens in the secretly recorded and secretly recorded content is sold and leaked, it may be suspected of a crime of infringing citizen information. Third, Article 110 of the General Principles of the Civil Law stipulates that natural persons enjoy the rights to life, body, health, name, portrait, reputation, honor, and privacy, and the candid-taking behavior seriously violates citizens ’right to privacy.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that if the suspect's secretly recorded video includes sex videos and spreads them out, it may also constitute the crime of spreading obscene materials.
Hotel assumes tort liability
Urgent need to increase supervision
I was photographed while staying at the hotel. How can I blame such incidents?
In this regard, Zhang Xingshui believes: "If a hotel guest sue to the court, the criminal responsibility of the suspect must be investigated first, or a criminal incidental civil lawsuit can be filed to request compensation for personal damage. At the same time, the guest can also sue the hotel if he himself The personal rights, especially privacy rights, are indeed infringed because of this matter, and there is factual evidence. The victim can file a civil lawsuit against the hotel and ask the hotel to bear the corresponding civil tort compensation liability, because they have not fulfilled their security guarantee obligations. The loophole provides the suspect with a criminal opportunity. "
According to Zhang Xingshui, China ’s laws clearly stipulate that citizens ’privacy rights are protected by law, but the hotel has not taken measures to ensure that hotel guests’ privacy rights are guaranteed within the legal framework. According to the first paragraph of Article 37 of the Tort Liability Law, if managers of public places such as hotels, shopping malls, banks, stations, entertainment venues, or organizers of mass activities fail to fulfill their obligations to guarantee safety, causing damage to others, Should bear tort liability.
"Hotels as public places, apply this clause, and their managers have not fulfilled their due security obligations, causing damage to the privacy of the guests of the hotel, and should bear tort liability." Zhang Xingshui said, although the infringement is not directly caused by the hotel It was made, but the infringement occurred inside the hotel, which caused privacy damage, unnecessary loss and mental damage to the guests, which involved civil compensation liability.
Zhu Wei believes that both the Consumer Rights Protection Law and the Tort Liability Law refer to security assurance obligations, and the hotel is responsible for ensuring the safety of guests staying at the hotel. The hotel did not find the installed secret recording equipment during the security inspection, which led to the occurrence of subsequent incidents. Since the hotel has not fulfilled its safety and security obligations, the injured guest may demand compensation from the hotel in accordance with the relevant contents of the Tort Liability Law, Consumer Rights Protection Law, Contract Law, and General Rules of Civil Law. The hotel should not use excuses of ignorance as an excuse, but should perform its duty of thorough rounds.
Zhang Xingshui suggested that hotels should draw lessons from such cases, promote the safety of guests to an important position in hotel management, formulate more stringent safety standards and safety measures, strengthen safety level supervision, and implement them into actions, such as taking strict Security measures to eliminate potential safety hazards; in the protection of guests ’private information, we can learn from foreign experience, such as the experience of the depositor information security protection system of Swiss banks and other financial institutions. In addition, the hotel should actively check out the outsiders, and strengthen the inspection of those outsiders who are neither internal staff nor hotel customers, and pay attention to safety inspections and engineering supervision during decoration and processing, to prevent them from using the hotel ’s Install crime props in the management gap, and block the crime path in advance.
Zhang Xinbao believes that the relevant departments should introduce some measures, such as regular inspection of electronic products in hotel rooms.
"Any industry should respect the basic ethics of its own industry, respect the public order and good customs of the society. The hotel should operate in accordance with the law and regulations, and actively protect the personality rights, privacy rights, property rights, etc. of the guests." Zhang Xingshui said.
Faced with the risk of being secretly filmed and recorded, how should consumers protect themselves from harm?
Zhang Xingshui suggested that consumers should have a security awareness when going out, and should pay attention to details when going far, and try to avoid becoming a prey for criminals. First of all, we must choose formal hotels, and avoid choosing irregular and chaotic hotels. Secondly, after staying in the hotel, consumers should strengthen their awareness of prevention. They can check the four corners of the room to screen whether they have been installed with audio and video recording equipment, and try their best to investigate hidden safety hazards. Third, consumers should pay attention to what they say in the hotel and be cautious.
Zhu Wei pointed out that consumers can take the following measures after staying in the hotel: first, turn off the lights after entering the room, close the curtains, check whether there are bright spots on the ground or wall in a dark environment, and if so, check for eavesdropping and theft Recording equipment exists; secondly, to observe whether the mirror in the room is a double-sided mirror, you can touch the mirror with your finger. If you find that there is no gap between the reflection and the finger, it is a double-sided mirror, which may threaten your privacy.
“At present, anti-monitoring related detection equipment has appeared on the market, which can shield and detect the monitoring signal, and can also achieve a certain protective effect. Consumers going out must have a sense of security, and try to avoid informal B & Bs when staying in hotels , Should be the first choice for regular large hotels. "Zhu Wei said.
Zhang Xinbao believes that consumers are relatively innocent and helpless in such incidents. For them, it is more difficult to take independent measures to prevent such incidents. Although consumers should increase their awareness of prevention, they should rely more on strengthening the management of such candid and secret recording devices and the management of the hotel industry to create a private and safe consumption environment for consumers.
"Relevant departments should increase the protection of privacy, strengthen the supervision of special industries such as hotels, and take precautions." Zhang Xingshui said.
Eavesdropping eavesdropping equipment
Suggest to strengthen source governance
There are frequent incidents of candid photography in the hotel, which cannot be separated from the proliferation of eavesdropping and photographing equipment such as secret photography, tracking and positioning. Pinhole cameras may be hidden in common items such as sockets, clocks, humidifiers, and wireless chargers.
"On the Internet, the sale of pinhole camera equipment is currently in a gray state, and there are no particularly clear prohibitive terms." Zhang Xingshui said.
In September 2019, the Heyuan City Public Security Bureau of Guangdong Province organized more than 60 police forces to go to the Longgang District of Shenzhen to collect nets from criminal gangs hiding in a local industrial park that illegally produce, sell eavesdropping, and photographic equipment. 23 suspects, seized more than 10,000 pieces of eavesdropping, eavesdropping equipment finished products, semi-finished products, production tools and accessories, involving more than 400,000 yuan.
Zhu Wei told the "Legal System Daily" reporter that the transaction of such equipment requires qualifications. The criminal law has the crime of illegally using eavesdropping and photo-stealing equipment. The persons involved in such cases generally do not have the qualifications to purchase, even according to the basic principles of non-factual infringement. , The seller's behavior itself is illegal. Such equipment is often not sold in the name of "eavesdropping, eavesdropping" equipment, but internal "trading rules", so online shopping platforms need to take measures to remove relevant e-commerce.
"Article 42 of the Law on Public Security Management Punishment clearly stipulates that one of the following acts shall be detained for less than five days or a fine of less than 500 yuan; if the circumstances are heavier, it shall be detained for more than five days and less than 10 days, and may be sentenced to 500 at the same time. For fines below $ 1, Article 6 includes voyeurism, candid photography, eavesdropping, and dissemination of the privacy of others. But this law alone cannot completely prevent this type of illegal crime. "Zhang Xingshui said that the lag of legislation will lead to limitations in law enforcement For the current situation, legislation needs to be strengthened.
Zhu Wei believes that China currently has certain problems with the transaction management of micro audio and video equipment.
"The existing laws still have gaps." Zhu Wei said that by the end of 2014, the Ministry of Public Security and other three departments had issued "Prohibitions on the Illegal Production, Sales and Use of Special Equipment for Eavesdropping and Eavesdropping Photographs, and" Pseudo Base Station "Equipment", which belong to departmental regulations . Although there are similar provisions in the National Security Law, they are mainly related to national security, and civil infringement cases are not applicable. In the future, there should be more targeted regulations. For example, whether the relevant crimes related to "illegal production and sale of special spy equipment or special equipment for eavesdropping and eavesdropping" involved in the Criminal Law Amendment (IX) can be considered to extend to production, sales, illegal use, service provision, etc. Clear regulations.
Zhang Xinbao believes that it is more difficult to manage from the transaction link, because the products on the network are too complicated, so it is best to control from the source of production.
Zhang Xingshui said: "To solve this problem, first of all, we should ensure that the technical secrets of such equipment are not leaked. Starting from the public security department, because many of these equipment are developed by the public security system, even private research and development need to rely on the state Relevant confidentiality and security units are produced with special technologies. Therefore, public prosecution agencies involved in such equipment must follow the confidentiality laws to prevent technological secrets from being leaked to the public or being obtained by criminals. "
Secondly, public security organs should strictly control the illegal acts of leaking technical secrets and technical equipment to prevent the technology from being copied and used in illegal transactions and crimes. If an inner ghost trying to reveal a secret is found, the professional secret team should be removed.
Third, the state should legislate to strictly regulate the production process of such equipment, so that it can only be used for professional purposes that protect national interests, and cannot be bought and sold, traded, disseminated or even out of state control. The National Security Protection Law should also step up its efforts to strictly control and control this special equipment to prevent it from flowing into society and harming the people.
Zhang Xingshui believes that natural persons who illegally manufacture or trade such special appliances, whether buyers or sellers, must take severe sanctions, so that even if someone wants to buy, no one dares to sell, completely blocking the source. Victims should also be held accountable for the negligence of the hotel, so that both the symptoms and the root cause can warn the society and avoid the recurrence of such violations.
Cartography / Gao Yue