A man in Qianguo county, Jilin province, was detained 15 days and fined 3,000 yuan ($471) for downloading pornographic videos to his home computer, South China Metropolis Daily reported on June 15.
The man first posted his story online on June 10, saying that police found 95 porn videos in his computer and then seized it.
[ . . . ]
According to Article 68 of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, those who produce, transport, copy, sell or rent obscene books, pictures, video, and audio or use computer information network, telephone and other communication tools to disseminate obscene information, will be detained for 10 to 15 days and fined 3,000 yuan. (China Daily)
I can’t say that I’m all that familiar with this law. Obviously the production and distribution of porn is illegal here in China, that’s fairly well known.
But what does it mean to “copy”? If I had to guess, this refers to reproduction of the pornographic work for distribution, not merely downloading it for personal use. Technically yes, one makes a copy of the digital work when it is downloaded, but that’s not exactly the same as “reproduction” as we see in other parts of the law, for example with copyright.
Just consider what it would mean if mere downloading/possession qualified as a violation under Article 68. What percentage of males above the age of twelve have porn on their computers? I’m not familiar with all the survey data, but usually the answer is somewhere around 99%, with one percent of the respondents lying about it.
If the cops can grab anyone who has digi-porn, then everyone’s a criminal. Scary thought.
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