Legco Monitoring Row Taken To Privacy Commissioner

The Privacy Commissioner was urged on Thursday to investigate whether the government is breaking the law by monitoring the whereabouts of legislators inside the Legco complex.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui recently brought up the issue when he snatched the phone of a government official to find out what information she was collecting.

Activists pressed the Privacy Commissioner to look into the matter, saying they were shocked by the scale of what they called the government's "surveillance" in Legco.

One of the activists, Katty Law, told Richard Pyne the issue touches on the integrity and independence of the legislature.

"I was actually quite surprised to know that there are as many as 30 or 40 civil servants, from various government departments which may not be related to the specific topic that the Legislative Council is discussing, being sent from their department to come to the Legislative Council building to check on the legislators," Law said.

Law said this is excessive and it is the job of the legislature to monitor the government, not the other way around.