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South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
No need to amend law in light of AI porn case, Hong Kong privacy chief says
The head of Hong Kong's privacy watchdog has said there is no immediate need to amend the law to specifically target the creation of AI-generated deepfake pornography, stressing that existing legislation is sufficient to handle offences. In her most detailed comments following a recent high-profile case at the University of Hong Kong, Ada Chung Lai-ling said on Saturday that because the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance was 'principle-based' and 'technology-neutral', it applied to the misuse of personal data in deepfake images. 'The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance is still applicable … For now, we do not see a need to amend the law,' Chung said at a seminar at the Hong Kong News-Expo. Chung, the privacy commissioner for personal data, said her office would handle complaints concerning AI-generated porn in the same way as any other case involving the collection or disclosure of data. She also noted that other existing laws, such as criminal ordinances that prohibited the disclosure of obscene images, could apply. Ada Chung has confirmed that her office has launched a criminal investigation into the case. Photo: Yik Yeung-man
RTHK
07-07-2025
- Health
- RTHK
Organisations urged to up data privacy awareness
Organisations urged to up data privacy awareness Ada Chung, right, and Rebecca Ho stressed the importance of staff training to help tackle data breaches. Photo: RTHK The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) on Monday called on organisations to urgently enhance employee awareness and adherence to data privacy protocols. This follows the PCPD's intervention in eight personal data breach incidents across different sectors, including a government department and medical institutions. The breaches, all violations of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, stemmed primarily from employee negligence and failure to follow established procedures, according to Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung. In one case, an online registration form of a medical institution was found to have involved the improper disclosure of personal data submitted by over 100 registrants, including their names in Chinese and English, phone numbers, email addresses and dates of birth. In another, staff at a retail company inadvertently filled in the email addresses of all its members into the recipients' field, rather than using the blind carbon copy function, thereby revealing the email addresses of more than 1,000 other members to the recipients. A third notable breach occurred within the Transport Department, where staff mailed a letter regarding the complainant's notification of an address change but failed to fold it according to required procedures, which made the complainant's Hong Kong ID card number visible through the envelope window. Of some other cases, one involved a doctor at a medical diagnostic centre who left a computer system logged in, thereby exposing confidential patient data on a monitoring device; a tour guide distributed group e-tickets that contained the unprotected personal data of more than 30 individuals; and a security guard at a residential estate improperly disclosed a complainant's phone number to another tenant while attempting to resolve a parking complaint. Chung stressed the need for organisations to create clear and straightforward work guidelines, while also enhancing employee awareness through targeted training. "We have also stressed the importance of implementation of the policies and continuous monitoring and supervision of the implementation of the policies," she said. "This can be done, for example, by sample random checking of work procedures, surprise checks by supervisors, and also this can be done by ongoing training of internal staff." Chung also highlighted the need to offer training to new staff, along with continuous training annually. Assistant Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (Complaints and Criminal Investigation) Rebecca Ho said organisations can develop checklists and flowcharts tailored to various positions, making work guidelines easier to understand. She also stressed the importance of adopting technical security measures, such as using an encrypted email system, and developing a comprehensive data breach response plan which would enable organisations to respond swiftly and effectively to potential data breaches.
RTHK
20-05-2025
- RTHK
Public urged to guard against 'fake neighbour' scams
Public urged to guard against 'fake neighbour' scams Ada Chung says her office has received several reports of such attempted scams in recent weeks. File photo: RTHK Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung on Tuesday warned the public to be on their guard against scams where would-be fraudsters impersonate people's neighbours and try to steal their personal information. Chung said her office has received several reports of such attempted scams in recent weeks. The perpetrators have pretended to be a neighbour and first contact people by SMS claiming to want to discuss water leaks or noise in their building. They later switch the conversation to instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and send a link purported to be of a plumber, for example, but actually get people to click on websites where they could have sensitive information – and eventually their money – stolen. "Because the scams have happened at housing estates in many districts, we believe the scammers contacted their targets by taking a scattergun approach and not because there had been a data breach at a particular housing estate which would have provided the fraudsters with residents' phone numbers," the commissioner said on an RTHK programme. "We also haven't received any data breach notifications from any estates. So we believe the fraudsters got the phone numbers via social media platforms or from previous data breach incidents involving other organisations." Chung urged the public to be cautious if they receive an SMS from someone claiming to be a neighbour. Sha Tin district councillor Law Yi-lam told the same programme that she has received 20 reports of such scams this month, but none of those contacting her had actually lost money.
