Shameful tale of sex, lies, and videotape

A "sex video" allegedly recorded in a fitting room of a clothes store in Beijing's Sanlitun area has gone viral after being uploaded on the Internet on July 14. The 1-minute video showing a man and a woman having sex has reportedly been shared millions of times on social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat.

Local media outlets say Uniqlo, the store where the video was supposedly recorded, has seen a sharp increase in footfalls since Wednesday, with many people taking photographs in front of the building. Uniqlo, however, has issued a statement denying that the incident is a publicity stunt, and advising customers to "properly use its fitting rooms".

Sex sells. But it is highly unlikely that a reputable company will use explicit sex videos to boost sales. Such companies know full well that cheap gimmicks will bring some instant added business, but in the long run they can be damaging.

The video was soon offloaded by major websites, but it is still available on smaller forums and social networks. The video in itself is shocking enough, but more shocking is the people's attitude toward a case of serious breach of individual privacy.

Equally shocking is the fact that the incident has given some companies and netizens the opportunity to cash in on the public craze or titillate themselves at the expense of others. While many people have condemned the spread of the video, many more seem to be asking where it can be viewed. Other clothing retailers such as ZARA and H&M quickly sniffed out the commercial opportunity and quipped on their own micro-blog accounts that they have better and more spacious fitting rooms than Uniqlo.

Some people even seek to make easy money by hawking the video online. Within hours, T-shirts with the image of the woman, obviously grabbed from the video, went on sale on Taobao. And soon, alleged identities of the woman and man in the video were dug out in a wild online "human flesh search".

Beijing police said on Wednesday that they had started an investigation into the incident, because whoever uploaded the video, apparently shot by the man with his cellphone, broke the law.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's top Internet regulator, quickly summoned managers of Sina and Tencent, which run Weibo and WeChat, and asked them to strengthen their management to curb the spread of lewd content.

Rather than taking the incident as a joke, every person should reflect on what kind of role he/she has played in the whole episode. The person who uploaded the video should receive legal punishment, and if it is found that the company is responsible for the video, it should be brought to justice.

Besides, those gratifying themselves by watching the video or forwarding it to others should be treated as an accomplice, because with every click of the mouse to watch or forward it, they have caused more hurt to the woman.

We should not forget that in the era of the Internet, anyone can fall prey to such cyber violence. More than the law, it is people's conscience that can prevent such large-scale cyber frenzy over privacy.

The author is an editor with China Daily. lifangchao@chinadaily.com.cn