HKJA Questions 'tip Offs' Over Car Plate Searches

The government is offering a new service to alert people whose cars are subject to a licence plate search – a move which the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) says may be aimed at tipping off people being scrutinised by the media.

The Transport Department said on its website that 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 vehicle owner... will be aware that his personal data have been disclosed to a third party and can take precautionary action as appropriate," the department said.

The HKJA said this is effectively a warning mechanism for people who are being looked into by the media, to allow them to take steps against any unwanted attention.

It urged the authorities to exempt media searches from the notification mechanism, and to add in 'news reporting' as a legitimate option for conducting car plate searches.

Such searches came into the spotlight in November, when an RTHK investigative journalist, Bao Choy, was charged for allegedly violating traffic laws while looking up details of license plates for a documentary on the Yuen Long mob attacks.

Meanwhile, the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily revealed that it has rejected a police request for assistance into an investigation, by disclosing information about the people who conducted a licence plate search on the newspaper’s behalf.

It says the search was conducted in relation to a report on a car accident, for a story published in mid-November.

Apple Daily quoted its chief editor, Law Wai-kwong, as saying the request is "unjustified and absurd", and that the force was trying to threaten the press.