I see news article of people getting arrested for downloading porn, or a long time ago this “cum cruise” guy posted nude pictures of himself and got in trouble.
The question is, is it illegal to download porn of any kind, or only certain types of porn (like child porn) are illegal?
Or is it just cops going after someone for another reason and using porn as an excuse?
I would also like to know the legal status of strip-tease, nudism, and orgies.
If this is a serious question … I believe it depends what you mean by “legal”. In Taiwan, there are all sorts of things which are, on paper, illegal, but which in practice are not. For example, if you are associated with an approved gang or mafia organisation, you are permitted to operate various “innocuous” rackets such as loan-sharking, strip clubs, or prostitution as long as you keep it on the down low and don’t make trouble for the authorities. Mostly, the police will also turn a blind eye to (for example) pirated software, which is openly for sale in the computer markets, fencing low-value stolen goods, or (obviously) traffic violations such as driving without a helmet or without a functioning brain. All this gets more true the further south you go. In practice, therefore, all these things are legal. What’s written in the books is completely irrelevant.
As for pornography, AFAIK it must be censored (mosaic) if it’s being sold in an “AV store” or broadcast, but if you visit a motel they usually have at least 1000 channels of uncensored porn, most likely pirated or unlicensed. Or so I’ve heard. 
So, again, it’s de facto legal.
I’ve read about “organised” orgies being busted fairly regularly over the past few years, but I’m not sure what crime they’re supposed to have committed. I imagine the adultery laws might take effect in the appropriate circumstances.
Anyway, I hope you’re not thinking of posting nude pictures of yourself, TL? 
I have no desire to post nude pictures of myself… however I’ve heard of people get in trouble simply for downloading porn on torrents or whatever and I was just wondering what are the laws on this and what crime have they committed. I’ve heard there are a lot of obscure laws that are not enforced but are on paper, and it’s a tool for the authorities to crack down on you if they don’t like you…
I wish someone would pass a law against all the annoying otaku-style porn ads I get in Chinese on Facebook all the time. Not into that at all! :ohreally:
Seriously, though, I’m also curious about the OP’s question. My gut instinct would be to say that it’s the downloading of copyrighted material via torrent that’s illegal, not the porn, but I could be wrong. I just think it wouldn’t make sense for pornography to be illegal in a country where there’s soft porn everywhere you look, not to mention an endless variety of sex toy shops and Japanese DVD stores.
[quote=“haokaiyang”]I wish someone would pass a law against all the annoying otaku-style porn ads I get in Chinese on Facebook all the time. Not into that at all! :ohreally:
Seriously, though, I’m also curious about the OP’s question. My gut instinct would be to say that it’s the downloading of copyrighted material via torrent that’s illegal, not the porn, but I could be wrong. I just think it wouldn’t make sense for pornography to be illegal in a country where there’s soft porn everywhere you look, not to mention an endless variety of sex toy shops and Japanese DVD stores.[/quote]
I’ve done a search on Taiwanese Yahoo answers and it appears according to Taiwanese laws, anything more than a 2 point exposure is illegal. 2 point exposure would be considered restricted (meaning no one younger than 18 may view it). I am not sure what are the consequences for viewing them but it seems you can get charged with indecency for posting nude pictures of yourself and indecency is a criminal offense… the news article I heard about was where someone downloaded porn of some famous actor and the police IP traced him and raided his home as he was downloading the stuff.
I assume that “two-point exposure” means “tits yes, gonads no”…?
Strip-tease apparently violates some sort of obscenity law, which carries an NT 3000 fine:
chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/2007 … e-show.htm
Nudists seem to be tolerated to some degree, as long they keep to themselves:
nanwan.j4.com.tw/
I have some vague memory of participants at an tantric sex workshop (not Tibetan Buddhist), who were partner-switching in order to practice what they were being taught, being arrested in a police raid.
The reason I am introducing these apparently extraneous issues is that it is difficult to distinguish “pornography” from permissible forms of nudity and/or semi-public sexual activity. (What if the nudists photograph each other?) I suspect that the laws or regulation are written vaguely–something on the order of “offending public morals.”
In my experience, Taiwanese laws are on many subjects written in very vague terms, and because of this, the laws are selectively enforced. What is right and wrong cannot always be interpreted from laws. It many times comes down to the opinion of some government clerk. It’s an environment that breeds corruption.
Why should you download porn when you have plenty of sites that stream porn for free? You have to deal with some annoying ads, but that’s all.
And having a browser with private mode (firefox, chrome) helps with cookies and tracks.
Technically, viewing a site is downloading it. Your browser downloads the info into the cache.
Then it would depend what info was downloaded, technically.
Technically, viewing a site is downloading it. Your browser downloads the info into the cache.[/quote]
Browsing in private mode doesn’t records anything into the cache, your hard disk, or your computer.
did you see any foreign movie on MOD recently? There was a spanish movie on channel 64 and lady (of course) got a bit naked for few seconds and they had FULL BODY MOSAIC! Ridiculous. But yes it is illegal - defacto 
. It is even illegal to import or bring any kind of pornographic material into the country!
[quote=“Blaquesmith”][quote=“Charlie Phillips”]
Technically, viewing a site is downloading it. Your browser downloads the info into the cache.[/quote]
Browsing in private mode doesn’t records anything into the cache, your hard disk, or your computer.[/quote]
But in order to see it you must have downloaded it, by definition. The IP will still have a log of it.
I think they were deliberately written that way so that corruption could breed. There are a huge number of laws still on the books dating from the KMT kleptocracy, when it was important for friends and cronies to be able to do whatever the fuck they wanted with complete impunity - or with a slap on the wrist, as per the $3000NT fine mentioned above for running a strip club (worth the outlay considering the profits, right?). As various people have mentioned, this allows laws to be selectively enforced, and to mean whatever the judiciary decide that they mean on any given day.
Illegal de jure. If you adhere to the letter of the law, that’s what you have to do. A big company will do that. A small company flying under the radar doesn’t need to worry what the law says. After all, the law in any country is whatever people agree is the law. If “everybody knows” pornography is OK, then so it is, de facto.