Police And Protesters Make Privacy Complaints

The privacy commissioner for personal data, Stephen Wong, says he has received more than 200 complaints from police officers over online bullying and so-called "doxxing" attacks, in which people's personal information is posted online without their consent.

Mr Wong says the number of complaints has spiked this week. It comes amid fury from anti-extradition campaigners, who have twice surrounded police headquarters to press for the full withdrawal of the government's extradition bill and other demands including a public inquiry into protests in Admiralty on June 12.

Some police groups have said that details on as many as 1,000 officers have been released online, with officers and their families receiving harassment in the form of late-night phone calls and threatening text messages.

Wong urged website and social media administrators to remove such content, which he said was illegal.

"When an organisation or a person is using another person's personal data, the objective or the purpose must be directly relevant to the original purpose for which the data is collected," he said.

Meanwhile Wong said there had been 36 complaints over the release of information on patients to police by public hospital medical staff. It follows the arrest of several protesters in hospital after clashes between police and anti-extradition protesters in Admiralty on June 12.

Wong said hospitals shouldn't disclosure patients' information lightly, and the police shouldn't seek such data without good reason. He urged organisations, such as the Hospital Authority, to review their information sharing guidelines, so frontline workers know how to handle these situations.

"It involves the responsibilities, the duties – whether legal or otherwise –in relation to data governance, in particular in respect of sensitive data like patients' data, medical data.."

He said the situation could be improved by training or reference to guidelines elsewhere, and offered to help health organisations draw up suitable rules.

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