Car Search Alert Will Not Affect Press Freedom: CE

Chief Executive Carrie Lam has dismissed suggestions that press freedom will be undermined by a new service from the Transport Department to alert people whose cars are subject to a licence plate search, saying the move was made to curb doxxing.

Car plate searches, as well as searches on property transactions and company registry, have been widely used in investigative journalism, including a documentary produced by RTHK which sought to identify people involved in the Yuen Long mob attack in July 2019.

Journalists had also used the function to unveil illegal structures at the homes of a number of senior officials.

But the Transport Department says starting from Saturday, registered car owners who sign up for the service will be notified by email whenever a search regarding their vehicle is made.

The Journalists Association has warned this may tip-off people being scrutinised by the media.

But speaking ahead of the weekly Exco meeting on Tuesday, Lam said she doesn't see any links between the new administrative arrangement and press freedom.

"We have to be responsible in ensuring the privacy of those persons, especially after what we have seen in the past one to two years, that many people were inspecting these public register, they got hold of the personal data and they did all sorts of intimidation and doxxing that would harm the people," said Lam.

"So the administrative measure taken by the Transport Department is no more than just to alert the person that somebody has checked your personal data. That's it," she said.

"So I really don't see how this would undermine the work of the media, and hence I do not see why the media should be exempted from the administrative procedure that the Transport Department has put in place," she added.

Lam said other departments which provide such public searches are also reviewing their procedures.