'Lazy' Govt Must Introduce Upskirt Photos Law: DAB

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat on Wednesday led a protest by DAB members outside the Department of Justice (DOJ) calling for specific legislation to outlaw upskirt photography.

She said her party has been pushing for such an offence to be created for a decade and the issue is now urgent after the Court of Final Appeal ruled last week that the DOJ has been wrong to prosecute people taking such clandestine pictures under the charge of "access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent”.

The court ruled that people cannot dishonestly access their own computers or smartphones.

"The government is very lazy. They don't have a pinpoint law for this kind of criminal offence so they just use this access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent to charge. Under this law, the highest penalty will be [a fine of] HK$5,000 and five years [in prison]," Quat said at the protest.

"We heard that in the last few days, the DOJ gave guidelines to the police that they can use another law, which is breach of the peace, to charge people for upskirt photo taking. But this law is still not intended for this kind of criminal offence and the highest penalty is only 12 months, even lower than accessing a computer with criminal and dishonest intent."

On Monday, Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng said the DOJ and the Security Bureau are looking into how to supplement existing legislation in light of the Court of Final Appeal ruling.