Do not secretly film people or put hidden cameras in rooms used by tenants or guests
Voyeurism, covert filming, eavesdropping, and disclosure of private matters can bring detention or fines. Unlawful use of specialized covert-recording equipment causing serious consequences can carry up to two years. Two people who installed equipment in rooms at three hotels received one year and three months and one year respectively. Ordinary lawful home security is different from covertly recording another person’s private room.
What it takes
Nothing. Do not install or use hidden recording equipment to invade someone’s privacy.
What you may gain
Privacy intrusions covered by the public-security provision carry up to five days’ detention or a fine up to RMB 1,000, or five to ten days with an optional fine up to RMB 1,000 for more serious circumstances. Unlawful use of specialized listening or covert-photography equipment causing serious consequences carries up to two years. In the official Yan case, two defendants bought specialized covert cameras online and installed them in multiple rooms across three hotels for remote viewing. Their sentences were one year and three months and one year.
Context & considerations
Selling or distributing sexual recordings can add offenses involving production or sale of obscene material for profit; the same official case collection includes a ten-year sentence. The original distinguishes ordinary home monitoring from recording in rooms occupied by others. Owning the property does not itself remove another occupant’s privacy rights.
Research & references
Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (2025). Revised Public Security Administration Punishments Law, Article 50. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202506/t20250627_699863.shtml; National People’s Congress (2020). Criminal Law consolidated through Amendment XI, Article 284. https://jtgl.beijing.gov.cn/jgj/jgxx/flfg/fl/11033925/index.html; Supreme People’s Court (2024). Typical cases involving unlawful production, sale, or use of covert listening and recording equipment, Case 2. https://www.court.gov.cn/shenpan/xiangqing/449581.html.