How Common Are Hidden Cameras In Public

Seoul (CNN)Nearly 1,600 people have been secretly filmed in motel rooms in South Korea, with the footage live-streamed online for paying customers to lookout, police said Wed.

Two men accept been arrested and some other pair investigated in connection with the scandal, which involved 42 rooms in xxx accommodations in x cities around the country. Police force said there was no indication the businesses were complicit in the scheme.

In South Korea, small hotels of the type involved in this case are more often than not referred to as motels or inns.

Cameras were subconscious within digital Tv set boxes, wall sockets and hairdryer holders and the footage was streamed online, the Cyber Investigation Section at the National Police Agency said in a statement.

Cameras found by police hidden inside a hotel wall outlet (left) and hair dryer stand (right).

The site had more than iv,000 members, 97 of whom paid a $44.95 monthly fee to access extra features, such as the power to replay certain live streams. Betwixt November 2018 and this month, law said, the service brought in upward of $six,000.

"There was a like case in the past where illegal cameras were (secretly installed) and were consistently and secretly watched, but this is the first fourth dimension the law caught where videos were broadcast alive on the internet," police said.

Republic of korea has a serious trouble with spy cameras and illicit filming. In 2017, more than 6,400 cases of illegal filming were reported to police, compared to around 2,400 in 2012.

Last year, tens of thousands of women took to the streets of Seoul and other cities to protest against the practise and demand action, under the slogan "My Life is Not Your Porn."

In response, Seoul launched a special squad of women inspectors who have been conducting regular inspections of the metropolis's 20,000 or so public toilets to search for spy cameras, though some critics have denounced the move every bit a superficial response to a societal effect.

Lee Ji-soo, a computer specialist who helps women scrub the web of images taken without their consent, told CNN last year her visitor had seen a surge in need since the protests drew attention to the issue.

"The most mutual things that the clients are saying -- and they are quite heartbreaking -- are 'I want to dice' or 'I cannot leave my house.' Especially the victims of spy cam or illegally taken videos say that when they run into people on the street, they experience similar they would be recognized," she said.

In Jan, the co-owner of a S Korean revenge porn site was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $one.26 million. Soranet, which was shut down last year, was a popular site for uploading videos and photos taken using subconscious and upskirt cameras.

Editor'southward note: This story has been updated to note the size of the accommodations involved and that in Republic of korea modest hotels are typically referred to as motels.