HONG KONG - Hong Kong's largest political party has compiled a list of escalators across the city where women are vulnerable to unwittingly exposing themselves to peeping Toms, a report said Friday.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong released the study in response to the sharp increase in people taking indecent photos of women using mobile phones, the South China Morning Post reported.

The list of mainly shopping centres was compiled by party members who went to the locations to confirm that women were vulnerable.

The researchers took "wide-angle" pictures of the black spots, the Post added.

The research identified features such as escalators with glass walls, reflective floors and railings with glass walls as potential problem areas.

Elizabeth Quat, chairwoman of the party's women's committee which led the research, said she was not concerned the list would turn the areas into hotspots for mobile phone snappers.

"Those places have existed for a while; those who want to peep would have discovered them already," she told the large gathering of reporters, according to the Post.

One male party member declined to help with the research as he was worried he would be seen as a peeping Tom, the report said.