Skip to main content

CE expresses sadness over murders

Chief Executive John Lee said he is saddened by the murders that took place at a shopping centre last night and he extended his deep condolences to the families of the two deceased.   Mr Lee made the statement following the murder case that happened at Plaza Hollywood in Diamond Hill on the evening of June 2.   Apart from explaining that Police have arrested the suspect and will spare no effort in investigating the case, the statement pointed out that this is an individual case. It added that Police and various law enforcement agencies will continue to strive to maintain law and order in Hong Kong.   Furthermore, staff from the Social Welfare Department have contacted the families of the deceased and the suspect and will render assistance.   Noting that the people may feel uneasy and worried, especially as videos of the incident were widely circulated online, Mr Lee urged everyone in the community to stop sharing the videos. He encourages people to extend care to family members and fri

Doxxing to be effectively regulated

The Government proposes amending the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance to effectively regulate doxxing-related acts and has taken reference to laws in other legal jurisdictions to seek a reasonably practicable amendment.   The Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau made the statement in response to an overseas media report on July 5 that alleged a number of Internet companies had expressed concerns over the proposed amendments to the ordinance.   The report also said the companies had written to the Government warning that they might refrain from offering their services in Hong Kong to avoid holding their subsidiary employees liable for content generated by their users.   The Asia Internet Coalition had earlier written to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to express its views on the proposed amendments to the ordinance.   The bureau noted that while the coalition has uploaded the letter to their website, the letter made no mention of the stance of individual company members nor are there companies planning to retreat from Hong Kong, an issue the coalition has clarified.   The Government strongly opposes the report that took matters out of context to mislead and confuse the public, the bureau added.   Doxxing acts intruding into personal data privacy have been rampant in society in recent years and the public has strongly requested the criminalisation of doxxing and stepping up enforcement by the bureau.   Based on investigation and prosecution experience in handling past doxxing cases, the bureau and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data will propose amendments to the ordinance to effectively handle doxxing-related acts.   In the process, the bureau has referred to relevant laws in other legal jurisdictions to propose legislative amendment proposals on areas such as the definition of a doxxing offence, penalties, evidential threshold, the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data's statutory criminal investigation and prosecution powers.   The bureau reiterated that the legislative amendments only concern doxxing acts and the commissioner's law-enforcement powers. The scope of the doxxing offence is clear, focused and target-specific and has achieved the right balance between protecting privacy and freedom of speech.   It aims to submit the amendment bill to the Legislative Council within this legislative year.   The Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Bureau said that together with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, it has all along maintained good communication with relevant stakeholders, adding that the office has arranged a meeting with the coalition to understand their concerns over the proposed legal amendments.
http://dlvr.it/S3DC50

Popular posts from this blog

Legal officer changes proposed

The Government has proposed to amend the law to allow legal officers of the Department of Justice to be appointed as a senior counsel.   At a media session after attending a Legislative Council meeting today, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng explained the rationale behind the Government's proposal.   She said: “Why is it that my colleagues in the Department of Justice - who by their qualifications are solicitors but are actually arguing very well and very efficiently with great eloquence and efficacy in the Court of Final Appeal - are not being recognised when they are actually even better than their counterparts? That has always been something that sometimes troubles me.   “And for that reason, I have always been thinking about how we are going to overcome that problem.   “Now, what really triggers my determination to take this further forward is when one of our Deputy Directors of Public Prosecutions, Vinci Lam, took silk on May 29.   “That really showed that the form
Read more

124 COVID-19 cases reported

The Centre for Health Protection today said it is investigating 124 additional COVID-19 cases. More cases were detected in Kwai Chung Estate. There are also more than 70 preliminary positive cases.   Among the newly reported cases, 33 are related to Kwai Chung Estate, bringing the total number of positive and preliminary positive cases in the estate to 276.   One more positive case was found after an earlier confirmed case occurred at Glory Court, Tsuen Wan Garden, both of them live in units 5 but on two different floors. The centre has co-ordinated with related government departments and conducted an inspection today.    It was preliminarily considered that vertical transmission of virus via pipes is involved.   The centre will issue quarantine orders to residents of unit 5 on all floors of the building who resided there during the incubation period of the relevant cases and transfer them to a quarantine facility.   As it is possible that virus might be ejected from the open
Read more

Govt explains vaccine surplus plan

The Government said it will discuss with the drug manufacturers on how to handle the expected surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses concerning this year's COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.   It made the statement in response to a media report which claimed that Hong Kong will throw away millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses due to low vaccination rate.   The Government noted that as at May 24, out of the two million odd doses each of the Sinovac and BioNTech vaccine which have arrived in Hong Kong, there are 1.05 million and 840,000 unused doses.   It pointed out that the BioNTech vaccine needs to be stored in an ultra-low temperature setting and the vaccines have a relatively short expiry date from the date of manufacture which is around three to four months after arrival in Hong Kong. The vaccines now in storage will expire in mid-August.   The Government observed that the public's demand for the BioNTech vaccine has gradually become sluggish recently.   Compared with the daily
Read more