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Response to Media Enquiry or Report

Response to Media Enquiry or Report

Date: 25 October 2019

Response to the media enquiry on the prohibition on face covering

Thank you very much for your email enquiry. Our consolidated response from the perspective of personal data privacy is as follows:

Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation

  • While the prohibition on face covering would expose the faces of individuals, without the recording of facial information, it does not constitute collection of “Personal Data” under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Ordinance). Hence the prohibition on face covering during protests is not in contrary to the Ordinance.
  • Personal privacy right is a fundamental human right, and has long been protected by the laws of Hong Kong. However, personal privacy right is not an absolute right, and is subject to legal restrictions, with the important considerations including public interest.
  • While exercising personal privacy rights, balance must be struck with public interest, with the consideration of both the protection of personal data privacy and the interests of society at large, including public order and national security.
  • The Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation is made with the wider public interest in mind. It does not add the risk of personal data privacy and, as explained above, is not in contrary to the Ordinance. The doxxing situation is not related or affected by passing of the Face Covering Regulation.

Doxxing Cases

  • The office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) received the first doxxing and cyberbullying case on 14 June. As at noon 25 October 2019, the PCPD received and proactively found 2,706 related cases, in which 13 online social platforms and discussion forums, and 2,165 web links were involved.
  • As at noon 25 October, the PCPD has written to the related 13 platforms 95 times to urge them to remove a total of 1,639 web links and to post warnings that netizens who engage in doxxing and cyberbullying may commit a serious offence under section 64 of PDPO. Among those web links, 647 web links (representing about 39%) have already been removed. For those links that have not been removed, the PCPD would continue to urge the related platforms to remove them and would continue to monitor the platforms.
  • The PCPD has also urged all the platforms concerned to provide registration information or IP addresses of the netizens who uploaded the relevant doxxing posts. However, none of the platforms has responded to the PCPD.
  • If those platforms still do not provide information to the PCPD, the PCPD will consider further actions (including summons) in an attempt to get from the platforms registration information or IP addresses of the netizens who uploaded the doxxing posts, to facilitate the PCPD’s investigation.
  • As individuals’ (including children’s) personal data were disclosed for the unlawful purposes of bullying, incitement and intimidation, and consent of the persons concerned was not obtained, it is certainly unfair and illegal, and has caused psychological harm tothe data subjects. Hence, if, after preliminary investigation, the PCPD considers that persons engaging in such acts may have contravened section 64 of PDPO, the PCPD would refer the cases to the Police for criminal investigation.
  • As at noon 25 October, the PCPD has referred 1,297 cases of this nature to the Police for criminal investigation and for consideration for prosecution.
  • The consequences of contravention of section 64 of PDPO are serious. The maximum penalty is a fine of HK$1,000,000 and an imprisonment for 5 years.