Originally Published 2nd June 2008
Recent reports of high-profile leakages of personal data in Hong
Kong clearly illustrate the importance of businesses complying with
privacy laws from a reputation perspective.
Breaches of privacy will quickly impact consumer confidence in a
business, and are likely to affect all stakeholders. Accordingly,
this is a fitting opportunity to re-examine the main privacy law in
Hong Kong: the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap.486) (the
"Ordinance").
Over the past several weeks, reports of public and private
organisations in Hong Kong leaking confidential personal data have
appeared frequently in the media. The Department of Immigration is
the latest to reveal such a leak. On 8 May 2008, the Department of
Immigration was reported as having leaked confidential files
containing a list of the names of people for officers to watch
including their travel document information and travel records.
This follows recent disclosures by the
