@eLaw.com.hk 葉謝鄧律師行

ARE YOU FINDING A HONG KONG LAWYER? PLEASE CLICK TO VISIT:
WWW.SOLICITOR.HK . OFFICIAL WEB-SITE OF YIP, TSE & TANG WHO PROVIDES LOW-COST SPEEDY LEGAL SERVICE.

四川大地震：捐款熱線．銀行賬戶:紅十字會.聯合國兒童基金.救世軍.宣明會

香港紅十字會www.redcross.org.hk
四川大地震請支持香港及中國紅十字會，即查看捐款途徑及其他有關災情及救助消息。
[電話] 2802-0021
[捐款] 匯豐：004-567-650155-016
[捐款] 中銀：012-806-0-000161-7
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
更多 更多 更多 更多

Sex Traders Are INNOCENT:Website Operator Jailed for 18 months. Sex Traders Well-being Jeopardised

The operator of a popular online prostitutes directory was convicted of conspiring to live off the earnings of prostitution by a judge in the District Court. He was jailed for 18 months yesterday. He is a 48 year old gentleman called Chan Yuk-bun. The site's designer, programmer, photo processor and three photographers were each ordered to perform 180 hours of community service. They were also fined $20,000. They were lucky on not having been jailed like Chan.

The seven men made money by charging for adverts posted by sex workers on the website. The website has been run for three years. It was stopped after their arrest in May 2006. The case represented the first conviction of operatiors being involved in sex trade related advertising. Chan admitted his company made $90,000 to $100,000 a month by charging each prostitute $600. His personal bank account showed $6.5 million in deposits during the years the site operated.

The lucrative  income made as a result of such operation suggested that such online advertisements were effective in bringing customers to sex traders. Deputy Judge David Dufton stated that a deterrent sentence was needed because such websites might allow syndicates to hide other criminal activity.

The company sent photographers to brothels to take pictures of the women, which were uploaded to the website and included in the adverts, which included the prostitutes' names, age, service offered, fees and addresses.

Judge Dufton accepted the prostitutes in this case were not subjected to control, influence or direction, unlike if they were involved with a pimp. When deciding on these types of cases, a judge can easily be guided by morality as traditionally people "look down" sex workers on the mere reason that they have "betrayed" their souls by "selling" their intimacy which should belong to their loved ones. As found by the judge, the prostitutes suffered no loss. They were in fact agreeable on using those online adverts for their trades. While Chan's earnings might be envious to many, it does not mean that Chan should be made a criminal when no evidence of harm is found.

The judge said the case was serious because it was "a sophisticated operation" and "encouraged prostitution on a large scale" for three years. This statement helps to suggest that the judge has in mind that prostitution is a criminal phenomenon that must be curtailed. This is simply moralistic. The judge also commented that the website employed no measures to prevent access by the under-aged.  This statement means that underage's access to the site is a harm to them.

Hong Kong law does not prohibit prostitution. Many sex traders therefore run their trade alone in a flat. This does not breach the law. It is therefore not easily understandable while prostitution is in principle permitted, why promotion of this types of brothels has become illegal. The offence of living on the earnings of prostitute has the objective of sanctioning the abuse of sex traders. It does not aim at killing the business of single-woman brothel. The judge, while cherishing a moral cause, has in fact killed the livelihood and well-being of the sex traders who are legitimate under the law to trade their sexual intimacy legally.

Lastly, when operators using web to promote a sex trader's activities can be convicted of living off the earnings of prostitute, the list seems endless. In that event, the landlord who lets the flat to the prostitute, the woman collecting rubbish from her, the postman delivering letters to her and the Water Authority providing her with daily water for drinking and shower should also be brought before the judge for punishment.

Duplicating Teacher's Speech is Not an Offence

@eLaw Focus. Author: Thomas Tse. Partner, Yip, Tse & Tang

A school-cert candidate was found having duplicated the sound recording of the teaching content of a tutor. Customs officers in Hong Kong arrested him for investigation and no charge had yet laid. Declining cost and increasing convenience of the recording media make content duplication unprecentedly common among youngsters. MP3 and MPEG are the most popular formats for digital sound recording and video.

The arrested school-cert candidate would not have been so arrested if he had not placed the duplicated contents for sale on an auction site. Duplicating copyright works such as sound recording for self-use is not an offence. Distributing it or placing it for sale is however liable to criminal prosecution.

Speech not recorded on a media has no copyright. This is because copyright protection requires 'fixation'. Students are free to record but as a matter of coutesy should seek the teacher's permission. Students should however be careful. Although the speech itself has no copyright, the speech might contain contents which are copyrighted such as a lyric or an article. In any event, never put anything on sale or make further duplicates. Students should not place anything materials on the Internet for people to download or listen. This can cause trouble.

About @eLaw Focus:

@eLaw Focus is a news column on current electronic laws issues. It is provided by lawyers of Yip, Tse & Tang, a law firm specialising on eLaw practice. For further enquiry: info@elaw.com.hk

About @eLaw.com.hk: Hong Kong Technology Law Portal managed by Hong Kong Lawyers

@eLaw.com.hk contains information about technology laws of Hong Kong and other Internet or computer related legal information. It is managed by Hong Kong lawyers and the contents mainly relate to Hong Kong laws.

It covers areas about Hong Kong laws such as e-commerce laws, software licensing, domain name disputes, intellectual property rights, defamation, technology, source code escrow deposit, data protection and privacy, telecommunications and Internet liabilities.

Thomas Tse is the main architect of @eLaw.com.hk assisted by colleagues, Raymond Tang, Pierre Sun. He is the author of the Chinese book on Hong Kong E-Law. Mr. Tse is a partner of Yip, Tse & Tang, which is a law firm very famous on practice of traffic accident claims, workplace injuries, bankruptcy, IVA and eLaws. The firm's Technology and Telecom Practice Department was established in 1998.

Disclaimer and Regular Update on @eLaw.com.hk:

@eLaw.com.hk contains vast amount of legal information. Although we endeavour to be sound and correct on every aspects, please do not rely anything in it as legal advice. You must formally consult a qualified solicitor (and it need not be us) on making legal decisions.

@eLaw.com.hk is an efficient portal on eLaw. Its contents are regularly updated. The following passages are 2 most current contents. To read other parts, please click the categories links on the right margin of the page. Enjoy surfing on @eLaw.com.hk.

No Registration or Login Required:

Surfing @eLaw.com.hk is free and does not require registration or login. Therefore, you do not have to give us any of your personal information. You are free to come and go and no matter who you are, we are happy that @eLaw.com.hk can be of help to you.

Government immigration department streamlines smart ID card applications

The Immigration Department of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region has chosen to use FileNet's ECM solution to help streamline its application process for a recently launched Smart ID Card.

Under a new immigration identification system, Hong Kong's seven million residents are expected to replace their traditional ID cards with new multi-application smart identity cards by 2007. With the Smart ID Cards, holders will be able to enjoy a variety of government electronic services in a safe and secure manner.

Apart from immigration applications, a smart identity card can also support other value-added non-immigration applications, including e-Cert - digital signature certification - and library cards.

The Smart Card project comprises three major components:

conversion of all historical ID applications and related records
into digital images to provide fast, online retrieval. These are currently
kept on microfilm and index cards.

development of a new, multi-application smart card and supporting
high-performance computer system to deliver security and resilience

territory-wide ID card replacement by 2007

It is reported that FileNet's Image Services is a core component of this project. In addition to providing the Immigration Department with a high-performance, high-capacity system for managing the capture, storage and retrieval of all historical ID applications and related records, it is also fully compliant with the government's exacting auditing procedures.

According to FileNet, integrating seamlessly with other enterprise applications and systems at the Hong Kong Immigration Department, FileNet's ECM solution enhances overall efficiency since it enables Immigration Department staff to retrieve historical ID records instantly without having to wait for microfilm or index cards to be found and dispatched from archives. This will help significantly increase the speed at which the new cards are processed. With the ECM solution in place, the Department now has a secure and permanent store of critical immigration information to safeguard from disaster and misuse.

'The Smart Card project is an ideal showcase for FileNet's powerful ECM capabilities - in this case, managing the vast amount of historical data that must now be made instantly accessible to the Immigration Department' said Hugh Sutherland, vice president of Asia Pacific Operations, FileNet Corporation. 'It is yet another example of how FileNet can help organizations manage content by automating, simplifying and streamlining their business processes.'

For further information about FileNet, please visit their website at FileNet.com