What can I do to cut off the peeping black industry chain?
Experts suggest to carry out targeted legislation to achieve all-round supervision
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
There have been cases uncovered by the police showing that criminals hid a pinhole camera in a hotel room, and then shared the App invitation code to allow others to have the right to watch, allowing hundreds of people to watch it online.
A recent case concluded by the Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court showed that the defendant Wu Moumou controlled 180,000 cameras around the world...
In recent years, criminals have used hacking techniques to hack and control cameras in homes and public places, convert smartphones, sports bracelets, etc. into sneak shots, sell cracking software, and teach sneak shots to allow customers to "peep" private images and make money. A chain of black production has been formed, seriously infringing on the privacy of citizens.
The State Internet Information Office announced on August 9 that since May this year, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Office, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration of Market Supervision, has deeply promoted the centralized management of illegal products such as camera peeping, and has strongly responded to the people. The illegal use of cameras to spy on personal privacy screens, trade private videos, and teach peeping and shooting techniques, and other acts that infringe on citizens’ personal privacy, are centrally managed.
In an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily, Zhang Tao, director of the Chinese Society for Market Regulation, pointed out that the use of cameras to snoop is not uncommon and has formed a black and gray industrial chain of illegal production, sales, installation, and use.
In this regard, it is recommended to legislate at the national level, combined with the individual characteristics of the camera industry, to make targeted regulations for each link of production, sales, installation, and use, and to coordinate with existing laws and regulations to achieve source governance and " "Prescribe the right medicine" to cut off the black industry chain.
Violation of citizens' right to privacy and personal information
Due to work reasons, Liu Jia, who works for a company in Beijing, often travels to other places.
"Basically, I travel to other places once or twice a month, often staying in hotels. The incidents of criminals installing cameras in hotels in the past two years worry me a lot. Set-top boxes and power strips are the places where you can take a look and feel relieved.” Liu Jia said.
In recent years, criminals have installed pinhole cameras in hotels to secretly take photos.
Recently, Shanghai Pudong Procuratorate approved the arrest of three suspects who illegally installed hidden cameras in hotels and sold voyeuristic video accounts on suspicion of illegally using special equipment for wiretapping and photo theft.
In July this year, the Xiamen police in Fujian cracked the "Case of finding a miniature camera in a hotel room on Changqing Road", arrested the suspect Liu Mouhuang, and seized his secret video on the computer and mobile phone where he lived. No rumor was found.
After review, Liu Mouhuang confessed to satisfy his personal desire for voyeurism. He bought a miniature camera from the Internet. When he checked into a hotel room, he installed the miniature camera in the downlight of the room to take pictures of other people's privacy.
In addition to hotels, there are frequent cases of cameras being installed in locker rooms, shopping malls and other places.
Recently, a clothing store in Shenzhen, Guangdong, was accused of installing a camera above the ladies' fitting room.
Currently, Shenzhen Nanshan Police has been involved in the investigation.
"Illegal use of cameras to spy on personal privacy pictures and trade private videos violates citizens' privacy and personal information rights. In serious cases, infringement of citizens' personal information is a criminal act according to the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law." Zhu Wei, associate professor of China University of Political Science and Law Say.
More than 1,600 illegal products were removed from the shelves on various platforms
The built-in battery does not need to be plugged in, the 2.5cm body is not illuminated and super concealed when working, it can check library video, and it can record all day without the Internet, and it can be played by mobile phones with one touch... This is a promotional video of a certain brand of wireless mini surveillance camera.
The reporter found that such cameras are extremely common on e-commerce platforms.
"At present, the law does not prohibit the sale of ordinary civilian micro-monitoring. These camera devices are basically not problematic. The problem is that these camera devices are used by people who are peeping. Of course, from another perspective, these devices are very easy to use. It can be obtained, which brings a lot of challenges to the public's privacy and security." Zhang Tao said.
In some Baidu Tieba with surveillance as the theme, some netizens posted “bought it by yourself, share it at any point”, “cooperate in good faith, package sales, and hotel”, selling private videos in a subtle way; on a social platform, there are users Selling cameras to crack IDs and cracking software, the price ranges from 100 yuan to 800 yuan... The reporter recently investigated and found that on some social platforms, some people sell private videos and teach voyeurism and secret shooting techniques in a more concealed manner.
"The technical characteristics of webcams may give criminals an opportunity. Criminals often use updated and iterative technologies to crack the security protection function of the camera and obtain the data instructions in it, so as to realize the remote control of the camera equipment. In the Internet age, the harm caused by camera peeping is further amplified. In this regard, we must always maintain a high-pressure attack." said Sun Yuhua, an associate professor at East China University of Political Science and Law.
Since May this year, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China has instructed various cybersecurity and informatization offices to urge various platforms to clean up more than 22,000 related illegal and harmful information, deal with more than 4,000 platform accounts, 132 groups, and remove more than 1,600 illegal products.
Interviewed 14 video surveillance App vendors with hidden risks of private video information leakage, and urged them to complete rectification.
Clarify the scope of installation and the responsibility of the installation unit
Under the increasingly severe situation of information security, in order to protect the privacy of natural persons and the legitimate rights and interests of legal persons and unincorporated organizations, relevant departments and localities in my country have actively legislated to clearly stipulate the scope of prohibiting the installation of cameras.
Article 8 of the "Administrative Measures for the Public Safety Video Image Information System of Anhui Province" that came into effect on January 1, 2017 stipulates that in hotel guest rooms, dormitory rooms, public bathrooms, changing rooms, fitting rooms, breastfeeding rooms, toilets, etc. Places, places and locations that involve personal privacy, are prohibited from installing public safety video image information systems.
Article 10 of the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Public Safety Video Image Information System Management Regulations (Draft)" stipulates that hotel rooms, hospital wards, hospital examination rooms, dormitories, public bathrooms, toilets, changing rooms, breastfeeding rooms, etc. may leak citizens’ privacy Places and areas, installation of the system is prohibited.
Many experts pointed out in interviews with reporters that the rectification of illegal products such as camera peeping requires comprehensive supervision in all aspects of production, sales, installation, and use.
In this regard, it is necessary to make targeted legislation to solve the problem from the source.
Zhang Tao pointed out that it is recommended to strengthen quality and safety management in the production process, and strengthen the supervision and safety review of networked cameras.
When consumers buy the camera itself, they generally also purchase its built-in software, and the safety of the built-in software should also be taken into consideration for product quality.
Therefore, the software developer should also be responsible for the safety of the software.
At the same time, it is recommended to strengthen the production management of pinhole cameras, strengthen source control, and implement a production licensing system.
"In the Internet age, the rectification of the sales link is very important. Internet platforms such as social software, websites, and forums must strictly perform the main responsibility of information release and review. This is recommended to be clarified in legislation." Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Internet Governance and Law Cui Congcong, deputy director of the research center, said.
Zhang Tao also suggested that the scope of camera installation and the prohibition of camera installation should be clarified in legislation. For example, it is clearly stipulated that hotel rooms, dormitories, and public bathrooms, changing rooms, toilets and other places and parts that may leak the privacy of others are prohibited from installing video image capture equipment. .
In addition, it is recommended to clarify the main responsibility of the installation unit, and clarify its data management and safety review obligations.
In order to ensure the security of information in the use link, Zhang Tao suggests to strengthen the security management of the sharing of information collected by the camera to ensure the security of open sharing of information. Clarify the network security and data security obligations of relevant subjects. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Cyber Security Law, a comprehensive cyber security monitoring and early warning and information notification system, cyber security risk assessment and emergency work mechanism shall be established. Improve network security capabilities, ensure platform network security, and maintain personal privacy.