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Privacy Commissioner Stephen Kai-yi WONG attended “Hong Kong FinTech Week 2019 – Tencent Office Visit” and spoke on “Privacy Awareness and Ethics in Data-Driven Economy” (8 November 2019)

The Privacy Commissioner was invited by the Hong Kong Government to speak at “Hong Kong FinTech Week 2019” on “Privacy Awareness and Ethics in Data-Driven Economy” held at Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen. Attendants included Permanent Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Financial Services) Michelle Li Mei-sheung, members of International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), academia and industry leaders from both Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland.

The Privacy Commissioner shared with the audience the PCPD’s initiatives in advocating data ethics, including the consultancy study report on ethical accountability framework with three recommended core values and assessment frameworks for ethical accountability, co-chairmanship of a Permanent Working Group on ethics and data protection in artificial intelligence at the Global Privacy Assembly, etc. The concept of data ethics is gaining traction in Hong Kong this year, and it is expected that it will continue gaining momentum in 2020.

The Privacy Commissioner also provided insights into what and how multinational corporations can do to promote an ethical framework within their own organisations, and how they can play a part as leaders in this space in helping further promote the idea of ethics, including the strong support from top management and establishing a culture of living up to the ethical values of Respectful, Beneficial and Fair throughout the organisation.

Given the restrictions on cross-border transfer stated in EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and China’s Cybersecurity Law, the Privacy Commissioner shared his views on how these regulations are influencing the globalisation of data use. While the data-driven economy counts on the free flow of data, any restriction on cross-border data transfer would have an impact on the economic and technological development. That said, sound justifications can be found behind these restrictions, one of which is to offer adequate protection to personal data privacy given the uneven and fragmented landscape of data protection regulations around the globe.  The Privacy Commissioner stated that personal data protection is always a balancing exercise.  A regulator thus has to strike a good balance between all these seemingly conflicting interests.