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a subscription; Asia On Line is one such ISP operating in Hong Kong.
Appellant subscribed to Asia On Line Internet Services which offered a
Newserver service similar to a “Notice Board” for exchange of
information; it had various newsgroups. One such went by the name of
alt.binaries.pictures.erotic.children (“the Newsgroup.”)
In October 1996 a Senior Inspector of Commercial Crime
Bureau accessed the Newsgroup through his own computer. He noticed
6 articles containing 17 pornographic pictures sent under the name
‘Cheung Kam-keung’ or ‘Freeman’. On 24th October 1996, he
accessed the Newsgroup again and found another article containing 2
obscene pictures which was posted from an E-mail address : ‘cheung
kk@ asiaonline.net. The 19 pictures were of children engaging in
various sexual acts with adults or pictured in obscene poses. The
Inspector copied the pictures from the Newsgroup to his computer,
copied them to floppy diskettes, and printed hard copies. The Obscene
Articles Tribunal on 16th May 1997 determined that all the pictures were
obscene. Medical opinion from a Forensic Pathologist was given that
the children were below the age of consent and mostly pre-pubescent.
Police executed a search warrant to obtain details from
Asiaonline’s records of the subscriber operating the E-mail address. A
search warrant was executed at Appellant’s residence, a computer with
modem and computer storage media were found on the premises. A
number of obscene pictures were stored in the computer’s hard disk.
Appellant was arrested and interviewed and admitted posting the pictures
to the Newsgroup on the Internet using the computer found at his home.