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(i) consisting of or containing material to be looked at; or
(ii) that is a sound recording or a film, video-tape,
disc or other record of a picture or pictures,
shows, plays or projects that article to or for
the public or a section of the public.”
Section 2(5) of the Ordinance provides:“For the purposes of subsection (4):
(a) “article” includes anything which is intended to
be used, either alone or as one of a set, for the
purpose of manufacturing or reproducing an
article; and
(b) “person” and “public” include, respectively, a
person having the control or management of
anything which is or purports to be a club, and
the members of that club.”
As to the definition of “article”, the Magistrate found that
section 2(1) and section 2(4) did not specifically refer to computer disc,
computer data or computer file, but did refer to “disc or other record of a
picture or pictures.” In his judgment, the legislature clearly
contemplated such computer-related technology when the Ordinance was
passed in 1987. He found the clear words of the definition of “article”
sufficiently wide to cover the computer files or electronic data uploaded
to the Internet by the Appellant.
Publication
The prosecution case was that publication was complete when
Appellant uploaded the computer files to the Newsgroup because the
pictures then became available to other persons with access. Whether
someone chose to download them or not, the articles had been published.