A young Chinese couple is planning to sue a train company after CCTV footage of their prolonged farewell kiss in a Shanghai station was broadcast on the internet (Nico Hines writes).

It is not clear how film of the embrace made its way from the subway station's closed circuit television onto YouTube, but more than 60,000 people have now watched the clip on the video sharing site.

The couple, unnamed but thought to be in their 20s, said they were furious that the video had embarrassed them and violated their privacy.

“We think employees of the metro station taped us illegally and made negative comments (while filming),” the man told the English language China Daily.

“Now every time I walk into a metro station I feel uncomfortable.”

The man said they had hired a lawyer to ensure that the situation would never be repeated. “This has to do with the protection of the legal rights of all passengers travelling on metro trains in Shanghai, and not simply our own interests and (the) damage it has done to us,” he said.

The video, apparently captured at Shanghai’s Youyi subway station on Line 3, shows the couple wishing each other farewell with a series of kisses over three minutes.

Once the young man has walked through a ticket barrier to catch his train the couple continue to kiss through the gate accompanied by cheering and commentary seemingly supplied by metro staff watching the video.

Three voices can be heard on the clip speaking in the local Shanghai dialect laughing and making lewd comments.

The subway’s operator Shanghai Metro Operation Co Ltd said it was investigating the breach of privacy and promised “severe punishment” if employees were found to have misused the video.

Authorities have claimed that crime has been reduced in recent years by the installation of hundreds of thousands of CCTV security cameras in large Chinese cities. But local legal experts and scholars have called for stronger privacy legislation to regulate the use of video footage and impose penalties on its abuse.

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