Curbing Illegal Videos

[Anchor Lead]

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency is seeing encouraging results from videos it produced warning against illegal hidden cameras. Illegal video distribution fell by as much as 11% when the police warning videos were posted on websites where illegal hidden videos are circulated.

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This footage appears to have been shot in secret inside a woman's dressing room. But then the woman suddenly turns into a scary ghost and stares into the camera. It is followed by a warning message that the police are watching the site. This is one of the warning videos produced by the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency and posted on websites disguised as an illegally shot video. There are several different versions of the video, such as a motel version and a restroom version. The police uploaded these warning videos 170 times every day on 23 domestic file-sharing sites where illegal hidden camera videos are circulated.

[Soundbite] Heo Jeong-oh(Busan Metropolitan Police Agency) : "This campaign's approach focused on the fact that supply won't diminish as long as there is demand."

Under the current law, those who shoot videos in secret or distribute them can be punished, but those who watch such videos are not. So this police campaign targets the demand side. The police warning video was downloaded roughly 26,000 times between October 17th and 30th. During that period, the distribution of illegaly recorded videos on these sites fell by as much as 11%. Crimes involving hidden cameras numbered only about 800 cases in 2009, but spiked more than six times over the last 8 years to reach 5,100 cases in 2016.