A former Hong Kong telecom worker was yesterday jailed for publishing personal details of police officers and their families during last year’s pro-democracy protests, the first such conviction linked to the political unrest.
Chan King-hei (陳景僖), 33, was sentenced to two years in jail after being convicted last month of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing personal data stored on computers at his former employer, Hong Kong Telecom.
Publishing personal details online — known as “doxing” — became a common tactic used by both sides of Hong Kong’s political divide during last year’s protests.
Police became a key target for protesters as clashes raged — especially after officers stopped wearing identification badges — while government loyalists have also doxed Beijing’s critics.
During their investigation, police discovered personal information, including ID card and telephone numbers, as well as residential addresses of officers and their families on Chan’s mobile phone.
They also found that he had downloaded files from his company’s computers. Some of the personal details were then shared on the encrypted messaging service Telegram — on a channel dedicated to exposing the personal details of police officers and pro-government figures, the court said.
Hong Kong was last year convulsed by seven consecutive months of protests calling for greater democratic freedoms and police accountability.
Backed by Beijing, the authorities refused concessions and more than 10,000 people were arrested. The courts are filled with prosecutions and Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation in June.
The measures have snuffed out mass expressions of dissent, but the underlying causes of the unrest remain unaddressed.
A 25-year old immigration official is being prosecuted for allegedly using government computers to access the personal information of more than 220 individuals, including police officers, senior officials, judges and their family members.
A Web site called HK Leaks has also ramped up its doxxing of government critics, especially since the national security legislation was imposed. HK Leaks has so far posted the personal details of more than 2,000 people that it deems guilty of various “misdeeds” against China.
Registered on a Russian server, it is specifically designed to evade prosecution, experts have said.
“It is saddening that doxing acts often lead to cyberbullying or even criminal intimidation of the victims and their family members,” Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Ada Chung (鍾麗玲) said following yesterday’s sentencing.
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