A man from Guangdong Province was given a suspended three-month jail sentence yesterday for selling illegal spy cameras.

Sun Yupeng, 34, who ran a security surveillance business in the downtown Cyber Mart, sold two spy cameras for 3,450 yuan (US$444) and 3,800 yuan (US$489) on November 22, 2006, and January 17, according to the Shanghai Luwan District People's Court. He was arrested following the sale of the second camera.

The cameras, with lens of 1 millimeter, are concealed in briefcases. They can be remote controlled and pictures transmitted to other video equipment.

The State Security Administration categorized them as spy equipment.

Sun said that someone from Guangdong Province contacted him last year trying to sell the cameras. This person told him the cameras were very popular in Beijing.

Sun said that he contacted the Guangdong man when Zhu Xumin, one of the two buyers, came to him late last year looking for such a camera. No details about the Guangdong man were given.

Zhu testified he bought the camera to help him in his driving. He said that he placed the camera at the back of his car to see the road more clearly when reversing. Pictures were transmitted to his dashboard.

The second buyer Zhu Min testified he bought the camera to film manufacturers who use his company's trademark illegally.

Both cameras have been confiscated.

After hearing the verdict, Sun told the court he would not have sold the cameras had he known he was breaking the law.

According to a CCTV program, secret filming is no longer just for celebrities. Videos of normal people in toilets, changing rooms or bathrooms are widely seen on the Internet.

Experts said there is no law in the country that punishes this sort of conduct.

In 1999, a couple at a local university was filmed having sex and the video was later put on the Internet. They were expelled from the university, and the girl later committed suicide.

(China Daily May 24, 2007)