Photoshop this! Guangxi gov't website blurs photos to deter blackmail
Staff Reporter 2012-12-23 08:50
Photos of officials have been deliberately blurred to prevent blackmailers using them in mock-up sex pictures. (Internet photo)
The website of the municipal bureau of land and resources of Xinan county in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region carries no photo of the bureau chief, while the photos of several deputy chiefs and local party cadres are blurred. After this attracted the notice of many local residents, an official from the bureau explained that the office changed the photos after some of its leaders received blackmail letters.
On Dec. 17, an official from the information center of the bureau in charge of the website said that from September last year, some officials at the bureau received letters containing forged photos of themselves in the company of certain women. As a result, the center blurred the photos in order to prevent the downloading of the officials' photos by people with nefarious purposes.
An official surnamed Tang confirmed that the bureau chief and some other ranking officials received blackmail letters in the past year containing photos of themselves and women in bed, which are apparently forged. The author of the letters threatened to release the pictures unless he was paid hundreds of thousands of yuan.
To the further puzzlement of local people, the bureau later withdrew even the blurred photos from the website.
