The survey, entitled "A Comprehensive Study into the Invasion of Privacy of Public Personalities by Hong Kong Paparazzi 2006," was commissioned by the Association of Performing Artistes Guild and conducted by the university's Public Opinion Program.

Most of the more than 2,000 people who were interviewed between May and September last year to find out what the public thinks about the level of privacy intrusion and the tactics used by the media when reporting entertainment news, agreed that such practices were unacceptable.

The survey also conducted a contents analysis of the territory's entertainment publications in August last year and found a total of 381 pictures published in 2005 and 253 in 2004 could be classified as illegal.

The classification was based on suggestions made by a Law Reform Commission report published in March to criminalize acts of trespassing private properties and using snooping devices inside or outside of private properties to infringe upon the privacy of public personalities.

Public Opinion Program director Robert Chung Ting-yiu said the problem of privacy intrusion generally worsened in 2005 compared with the previous year as many more of the intrusion pictures published in 2005 featured celebrities walking, doing their make-up or talking.

A smaller amount of the 381 pictures published in 2005 showed intimate behavior of celebrities, including hugging and sexual acts in private premises, including apartments, hotel rooms, holiday homes and private vehicles.

More than 400 respondents were asked to recall the names of entertainment news publications they thought responsible for the intrusions. Next Magazine headed the list, followed by Eastweek and Sudden Weekly.

However, 72 of those polled said they enjoyed reading those magazines because they were either curious about the lifestyles of celebrities or that they wanted to kill time or entertain themselves.

Another 477 respondents said they did not like reading them because the contents were inaccurate and they thought they were a waste of time.

In terms of accountability, 70 percent of 1,000 respondents said the magazines should be held responsible, 39 percent blamed personalities, 27 percent said it was the government and 24 percent said it was the readers themselves.

Among 1,013 respondents who were asked whether they felt legislation should be enforced against paparazzi teams to protect personalities' privacy, 54 percent said "yes" and 39 percent said "no," but they generally agreed that it was necessary to introduce tougher penalties to deter such acts.

Celebrity and guild president Eric Tsang Chi-wai said criminalizing increasingly unacceptable paparazzi behavior, which infringes upon the privacy of public personalities in Hong Kong, should be considered.

He said the guild planned to submit a report to the Legislative Council soon calling for tougher laws to protect the privacy of personalities.