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PCPD
2000-2001 Annual Report
Privacy Commissioner's
Overview
Introduction
This will be my fifth report since my appointment as
Privacy Commissioner and covers the year from 1 April
2000 to 31 March 2001. It will also be my final report
as I will be leaving the PCPD at the conclusion of my
current contract.
Over the course of the year the PCPD witnessed many
developments in personal data privacy both within Hong
Kong and internationally. One of the greatest challenges
comes from the continued expansion of Internet applications
and the related growth of E-Business. Although the Internet
has been heralded as one of the most significant developments
of the past century its sheer popularity has brought
with it a marked increase in the anxieties expressed
by those who supply personal data online for transaction
or information gathering purposes. In this respect Hong
Kong is little different from the USA or Europe. It
is simply a matter of time before we, in Hong Kong,
begin to see the innocence of children and the gullibility
of online shoppers and Web browsers being exposed to
elements, some unscrupulous, determined to exploit personal
data for a variety of purposes for which the consent
of the individual has not been sought.
It
is these challenges that have prompted the PCPD to be
particularly active on issues relating to the Internet.
The importance we have attached to E-Privacy has coincided
with some high profile examples in Hong Kong, and around
the world, of the vulnerability of networks to hacking
and the unauthorised use of sensitive personal data.
Incidents such as these make a strong case for continued
vigilance and a re-assertion of the view that, given
the pace of developments in the cyberworld, the protection
of personal data privacy has never assumed greater urgency.
We continue to educate the community that caution should
be their watchword and that, for service providers,
there is a very real need to maintain and upgrade privacy
policies, protocols and compliance procedures to guarantee
the integrity of personal data entrusted to them. It
is the absence of comprehensive measures or guarantees
that will continue, in the example of online shopping,
to undermine consumer faith in service providers and
vendors. Evidence from numerous surveys in Hong Kong
indicate that, in spite of the level of household penetration
of PC's and Internet access, online shopping amounts
to a very small proportion of total consumer expenditure.
This is testimony to the view that Internet users are
both better informed about their personal data privacy
rights and increasingly circumspect about releasing
their personal data to third parties.
Our
2001 Opinion Survey is illuminating on this point. When
respondents were asked whether the practice of Internet
advertisers keeping track of their visits to different
websites would bring "benefits greater than risks" or
"risks greater than benefits" 7 out of 10 thought the
risks would be greater than the benefits. One of the
explanations for this finding is that respondents continue
to be concerned about the level of control they exercise
over their personal data once submitted online. Only
when trust and confidence are seen to be the hallmarks
of Internet based operations will consumers begin to
supplement real world shopping with higher per capita
levels of cyber shopping.
Over
the course of the year we had the opportunity to comment
upon two consultation papers from the Health and Welfare
Bureau and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority that put
forward proposals that would, if implemented, result
in a significant proportion of the community having
their personal data accessible to authorised third parties.
Our submissions emphasized the personal data privacy
issues of having large amounts of highly sensitive information
available to a large number of authorised users. We
will continue to monitor such developments and ensure
that our representations to the public and private sector
heighten awareness around personal data privacy. Ultimately
we want our collective endeavours to permeate all levels
of society and engender a privacy culture in those organisations
that are repositories of personal data.
   
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