Vice-Principal's sex in car sparks heated debate, lawyer says: Secret filming is illegal

Recently, the official of Shuangpai County, Hunan Province, posted a message on a local forum under the name of "Shuangpai Internet Information Office" stating that the incident before National Day, which was called Shuangpai "car sex scandal" by a certain netizen on the forum, was actually a couple secretly photographed having sex in a private car on the night of their wedding anniversary. This informal statement, which was recognized by the local Commission for Discipline Inspection, believes that the "car sex scandal" was a love affair between the couple "evoked by the scene" and did not involve moral corruption.

However, words such as "touching the scene" and "love between husband and wife" have also aroused doubts among many netizens, who called the statement "shocking". Is the interior of a private car a public place? Is it legal and reasonable to secretly film "car sex"? Where is the line between privacy protection for public officials and anti-corruption exposure?

The incident: The vice-president and his wife were secretly filmed having sex in a car, which became a hot topic on the Internet

On September 30, a netizen posted on a local forum in Yongzhou, Hunan, saying that a vice principal of Shuangpai County Middle School had sex with a woman in a car at the training ground of a local driving school. The netizen asked the local government to respond to the vice principal's moral corruption.

Eight days after the post was published, the Hunan Shuangpai County Commission for Discipline Inspection responded online that the parties involved were He, the vice president and discipline inspection team leader of Shuangpai County Vocational and Technical School, and his wife Jiang. September 28 was the 24th wedding anniversary of He and his wife Jiang. After dinner, the couple drove their private car to Longbo Driving School to have a look. Since the school was where He worked as the principal of the driving school and where they lived, and the driving school was about to be demolished and rebuilt into the county party school, the two were moved by the scene and wanted to be intimate in this special place and on this special anniversary. Just as they were about to be intimate, they were photographed.

Netizens react: "The most legitimate car sex" sparks heated debate on both sides

However, how to view this, which many netizens jokingly called "the most legitimate car sex", has also sparked different opinions among netizens.

Some netizens believe that Internet exposure is very effective in fighting corruption, and corrupt officials such as Lei Zhengfu were brought down through Internet video exposure. However, it is difficult for netizens to make a judgment on whether a public official is intimate with his wife.

On the other hand, some netizens believe that the quality of the person who exposed the post needs to be improved. One netizen analyzed the original post of the "car sex scandal" and believed that, apart from clearly explaining the location of the incident, the post was completely unaware of the identity of the parties involved and the cause of the incident, and only described it through pictures and emotional language, which was not in line with the original intention of the Internet's anti-corruption campaign.

Lawyer's statement: Secretly filming sex in a car is neither legal nor reasonable

So is it illegal for ordinary public officials to have sex in a car?

Song Fuxin, a lawyer at Guangdong Junxinda Law Firm, analyzed that the key lies in the identification of the "secret filming" location, whether it is a public place or a private space.

If this happened at night, in a private car, a relatively closed space, legally, the couple would have no problem. "They did not break any law. And from a reasonable point of view, if this happens occasionally at a specific time and place, society will not make a fuss. Because this phenomenon does not involve public office behavior and does not harm the public interest," said Song Fuxin.

Song Fuxin said that when a couple is secretly photographed engaging in intimate behavior and exposed online without violating any law or crime, it is a clear violation of the privacy of the couple being photographed. In the "car sex scandal", the place where the couple was intimate was not a public place, and subjectively, the couple did not want to be secretly photographed by others.

Regarding the intention of the voyeur, Song Fuxin believes that the Commission for Discipline Inspection is responsible for the discipline of public officials and will not interfere too much in the personal emotional life of public officials. It is neither legal nor reasonable for the voyeur to secretly take intimate photos of other couples and post them online.

Wang Chunping, a member of the Administrative Law Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association and a lawyer in Guangzhou, also believes that if secretly taken photos can clearly identify a person, the actions of the secretly taken photos and the uploader are suspected of infringing on the privacy and reputation rights of others. "The intimate behavior of couples is protected by privacy rights, and the car is also an extension of private space. Regardless of whether the location is a public place or not, secretly taking photos of intimate behavior in the car involves privacy issues."

Song Fuxin also said that just because the person involved in the "car sex scandal" is the vice principal of a middle school, he should not be secretly photographed and exposed. "Lawfully, everyone should be treated equally, and there should not be too many factors to judge others based on their identities. Since it was in the car and in the dark, the couple did not want others to know about their intimacy, but the secret photographer deliberately exposed it, which obviously had malicious intent. The couple involved has the right to file a civil lawsuit against the secret photographer for infringement of privacy and reputation rights."

Related case: Shanghai Metro apologizes after couple’s goodbye kiss video exposed online

In 2008, three employees of the Shanghai Metro used surveillance equipment in the station to film a couple kissing goodbye in public and uploaded the video to the Internet, which received more than 100,000 hits and caused controversy.

In this video, the surveillance camera of Shanghai Metro is always "aimed" at a young man and woman who are reluctant to say goodbye to each other, and the two are filmed with long, medium and close shots of their affectionate and intimate scenes. At the same time, there are multiple "voice-overs" of men and women, commenting on the couple's behavior with interest in Shanghai dialect.

Later, the Shanghai Metro Company stated that the three people who filmed, commented on and uploaded the controversial video were indeed former subway employees. The subway company apologized to the couple who were secretly filmed.

Regarding the couple who were secretly photographed in a public place, Professor Gao Fuping of East China University of Political Science and Law believes that although the couple's overly intimate behavior in public is contrary to public order and good morals, individual employees of the subway company recorded their behavior and spread it online, which may cause society to lower their evaluation of them. Such behavior violates the privacy of young men and women.

Communication scholars also believe that secretly filming and disseminating is different from simply filming, because the subject of the behavior does not necessarily agree to the widespread dissemination of the behavior when the intimate behavior is made public. From the perspective of ordinary people, even if they are willing to expose their private behavior, the expectation of such exposure is limited to that time and place. If the video of the intimate behavior is uploaded to the Internet and a large number of netizens click on it and watch it at will, it exceeds the expectations of the parties involved.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.