Man Arrested Under New Anti-doxxing Legislation

A 31-year-old man was arrested on Monday in the first case initiated by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) under Hong Kong's new anti-doxxing legislation.

The PCPD said the case is believed to be linked to a money dispute, although it declined to give further details.

Lo Dik-fan, acting senior personal data officer, warned people not to forward messages in a harmful way.

“The purpose of the new requirement of the [Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment)] ordinance is to control and to punish doxxing acts. So if you are only doing normal internet activities and you are not doxxing other people, you will not be governed by this ordinance. But if you are [carrying out] doxxing acts, you will be governed and you will need to be careful with what you do online," he said.

The ordinance, which came into effect in October this year, empowers the PCPD to carry out criminal investigations and bring prosecutions over suspected doxxing.