Decoding Privacy

In the twelve months since the Umbrella Movement’s street protests, one of the many topics now openly discussed locally is privacy, the right to privacy and personal data protection. Stories abound in the media, both locally and internationally, of people’s phone, text and email conversations being read, stolen, sold, published mis-used without their consent.

Among this increased awareness of privacy, locally Hongkongers are (too) slowly becoming aware of a need to protect their personal data. In the past everything about you from medical history, job resume, where you live, id card/passport numbers, bank details etc was stored on paper or digital files in separate boxes and computer systems in different buildings spread across the SAR. The emergence of the ‘cloud’ and the lax data security that many government departments and companies have in place mean that all this data is easily accessed by those who don’t have your best interests at heart.

As part of The Law Society of Hong Kong annual ‘Law Week’ privacy and decoding the importance of it figure prominently. While the discussions in “Teen Talk” section may be targeted to teenagers the information is pertinent to all – and it’s to be hoped that the Law Society will post the information and discussions online for all to peruse – especially with the spate of police prosecutions thrown out for fabricated evidence and personal data hijackings.

Aimed at enriching the legal knowledge of young people through discussions and sharing, while encouraging them to analyze law-related social issues from different perspectives. As the program, under the theme of “Decoding Privacy”, kicked off in over schools across Hong Kong Mr. Nick Chan, Council Member of The Law Society of Hong Kong said, “Teen Talk has been well received by teachers and students, and we are pleased to see that the number of participating schools hits a new high this year with 125 schools from 18 districts. Evolving from the previous all-day forum to a combined format with both physical and sedentary elements for this year’s programme, we hope the participants will enjoy the “Legal Scenario Play Competition” and the “Teen Talk Legal Knowledge Orienteering Race”. The former requires students to reflect on various real-life scenarios designed by the Law Society, including internet security, cyber-bullying, privacy issues, civil and criminal cases.”

He added, “The popularity of social media and smartphone applications may compromise the security of personal data, which young people (and many others) are seldom aware of and thus do not know how to protect their privacy. In the view of this, “Teen Talk 2015” adopted the theme of ‘Decoding Privacy’ to address the misunderstandings of young people on privacy and legal issues through discussions, and to remind them of the vulnerability of cyber space. We also want to enhance their awareness of public affairs and legal issues, and encourage them to apply what they have learnt to protect themselves and the others.”

As students of all ages have demonstrated over the last couple of years, they are the people most concerned about Hong Kong and its future. The legal system and specifically it’s impartiality is a cornerstone of that future. But so is understanding your legal rights, protecting your privacy and sadly video recording all interactions with the police. It’s to be hoped that “decoding privacy” will help people understand the value of their personal information and the need to protect their digital privacy just as much as they do their physical privacy.

Egg Protest @ High Court, 18 October, 2015

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Egg-Protest-High-Court-18/52693169_2Wwrn7#!i=4442799313&k=rm9kpBh

Egg protest at the High Court, 18 October, 2015
Click on any photo to see the full gallery

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https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Egg-Protest-High-Court-18/52693169_2Wwrn7#!i=4442797722&k=kc7V7PR

The Battle for Hong Kong’s Cyberspace

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/OccupyHK-29-September-2014/44640815_wssnHW#!i=3572981998&k=7BcXHJj

A recent paper by Lokman Tsui, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of the Chinese University of Hong Kong offers a chilling look at how authorities in Hong Kong outdid their rivals during the 79-day Occupy Central movement that hit the city in late 2014.

The Occupy movement braved police violence as well as political pressure and intimidation on and offline from Hong Kong and mainland Chinese authorities before being driven out by police. Technology played an important role in the movement’s organization and coordination, becoming “a critical channel for communication with the public,” according to Tsui. He described this as “a fairly typical script” for how technology aids social movements.

In response, the government not only defended itself but, as Tsui states, went on the offensive. His paper describes the various tactics deployed by the government and its allies to dissuade and diminish the Occupy movement.

Abusing outdated online surveillance laws
The current surveillance regulation ordinance only refers to telephone, fax and postal mail, and makes no mention of Internet communications. By repeatedly refusing to confirm whether its protections extend online, the government is implying that there are none.

Twisting an online fraud protection law to arrest activists
“One of the more problematic arrests made under [Crimes Ordinance] Section 161 includes charging a 23-year-old from Mongkok with ‘access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent’ and ‘unlawful assembly’ for allegedly messaging folks on an online discussion forum to join him in a protest in Mongkok.”

De facto online censorship using content removal requests
“The number of requests for content removal in the four months of October 2014 until February 2015 exceeds the number of requests made in the previous four years combined.”

DDoS attacks on an unprecedented scale
“The pro-government side was able to hit a series of critical websites with an unprecedented amount of junk traffic (500 Gigabytes per second), including the website of the Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, and PopVote, Hong Kong University’s online voting platform, leading Matthew Prince, the CEO of a hosting company that specializes in DDoS protection, to call it the ‘largest cyber attack in history.’”

Paid “50 cent” Internet commenters
Pro-government comments flooded online forums, blogs and social media networks similar to the paid online commentators working for the government elsewhere. It is generally believed that the pro-government commentators are hired by political groups sponsored by the Hong Kong government and Beijing.

Painting technology-related activities as a US conspiracy
In the case of Hong Kong, the government was “pushing a narrative of ‘foreign interference’, a xenophobic narrative that accuses civil society organizations of being inauthentic, that they are being used and funded by foreign governments, especially the United States government, who seek to undermine and weaken China by fomenting revolution in the name of ‘democracy.’”

Tsui ends the paper on a sobering note:
The Internet still has the potential to empower social movements; they might even allow temporary gaps of freedom. But the [Occupy Hong Kong] movement suggests that both the Internet and Hong Kong are at a crossroads, that both cannot take its freedoms for granted. This is not to say that spaces of autonomy and freedom no longer exist online or in Hong Kong; however, they are increasingly being marginalized and, at this point in time, are best understood as the exceptions rather than the norm.

Tsui’s paper, titled The Coming Colonization of Hong Kong Cyberspace: Government Responses to the Use of New Technologies by the Umbrella Movement, was published in the Chinese Journal of Communication in July 2015. Read the full paper on Tsui’s blog.

Originally published on Global Voices, some edits made  cc-by-icons-300

28.9 – One Year On

http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/558-Tear-Gas-First-Anniversary/52267934_DZTVgJ#!i=4389599244&k=qzVnMPH

http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/558-Tear-Gas-First-Anniversary/52267934_DZTVgJ#!i=4389497201&k=PkhrdGX

The 28 September 2015 marked the first anniversary of the start of the Umbrella Movement. The earlier student protests bolstered as tens of thousands joined the streets in support of universal suffrage. Those numbers bolstered to over 200,000 after the police fired tear gas and aimed shotguns at peaceful HongKongers.

Hong Kong’s students of all ages put the topic of universal suffrage in Hong Kong front and centre both locally and globally, so there was double sadness yesterday as the stage in front of the Lennon Wall was devoid of students and full of the same old politicians who expel a lot of hot-air but have achieved little; and who last year sat on coat-tails of a social movement for their own benefit.

The last twelve months have exposed China’s desire to destroy Hong Kong, to turn it into just another subjugated Chinese city with laws not worth the paper they’re printed on. Where the wealthy plunder, protected by politicised uniformed thugs masquerading as a police force.

Quite why they want to do this, when Hong Kong has provided such an effective way for rich mainlanders to squirrel their money out of China and stash it safely in countries where contracts and laws have real meaning. Currently Hong Kong is an expendable pawn in the factions battle in the mainland and until that battle is resolved, we’re going to suffer.

Some may say that last year’s street demonstrations achieved nothing – well you weren’t there… To those of us who were, it was a defining moment, a collective realisation that we must not let Hong Kong the place we love and call home slip quietly into the night. That we are HongKongers and proud of it and we will be heard.

Click on any photo to see the full gallery of images

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5:58, I am a HongKonger

http://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Student-Democracy-Protest/44617740_X2wFp2#!i=3570249460&k=NXDVrwd&lb=1&s=A

A year ago today at 5:58pm, police fired tear gas and pointed shotguns at HongKongers for expressing their right to free speech and demanding the right to choose and elect the people who represent and run Hong Kong.

Why do HongKongers have to stand up for these rights, because the people ‘picked’ to run Hong Kong are deliberately destroying the place we call home, while lining their own pockets.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Student-Democracy-Protest/44617740_X2wFp2#!i=3571226440&k=fzFBQW4

Tim Mei Avenue – 27 September, 2015

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Tim Mei Avenue – 27 September, 2015
click on any photo to access the full gallery

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https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Tim-Mei-Avenue-27-September/52245869_Qr7mM6#!i=4386353923&k=rdp9RK4

Umbrella Movement First Anniversary Events

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Student-Democracy-Protest/44617740_X2wFp2#!i=3570296547&k=gFdD4Jt

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2014/Student-Democracy-Protest/44617740_X2wFp2#!i=3570257961&k=4qGhMzt

Umbrella Movement First Anniversary Activities

September 26 (Saturday)

HKFS & Scholarism talks
Time: 1 – 9 pm (7 – 9 pm Chan Kin-man and Nathan Law)
Location: Tamar Park & LegCo
More info: https://www.facebook.com/hkfs1958/photos/a.433111302871.207569.269056797871/10153272698257872/?type=3

9WU March & Rally
Time: 6:30 – 10:30 pm
Location: Mong Kok Sai Yeung Choi Street South to Admiralty Civic Square
Contact: Ah Wai 9520 6046

http://i.imgur.com/RVnoCB8.jpg

September 27 (Sunday)

HKFS & Scholarism Talks
Time:
1 – 5:30pm (4-5:30 pm Agnes Chow)
Location: Tamar Park & LegCo
More info: https://www.facebook.com/hkfs1958/photos/a.433111302871.207569.269056797871/10153272698257872/?type=3

Christian Group Camp Out
Time:
Evening till September 28 noon
Location: LegCo
More info: https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/%E4%BD%94%E9%A0%98%E9%81%8B%E5%8B%95%E4%B8%80%E5%91%A8%E5%B9%B4%E5%B0%87%E8%87%B3-%E5%9C%98%E9%AB%94%E9%80%A3%E6%97%A5%E8%88%89%E8%BE%A6%E7%B4%80%E5%BF%B5%E6%B4%BB%E5%8B%95/

September 28 (Monday)

People Power returns to Admiralty
Time: 12pm
Location: Lennon Wall
More info:
https://www.facebook.com/peoplespower/posts/959745417420946

Civil Human Rights Front Rally
Time:
3 – 8pm (5:58 pm silent stand for tear gas memorial)
Location: Lennon Wall
More info: http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20150923/19305999

Mass by Father Franco Mella
Time: 4 – 5:45pm
Location: Lennon Wall
More info: http://www.police.gov.hk/info/doc/nono/CRN15046509E.pdf

Prayer & Film Screening
Time:
4-8pm
Location: LegCo
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/721477591312188/

Prayer session by Cardinal Zen, Catholic Justice & Peace Commission
Time:
8-10pm
Location: LegCo
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1488805408113134/

Bible Reading at Wanchai Methodist Church for Occupy Anniversary
Time:
10:30am – 12pm
Location: Wanchai Methodist Church
More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/428896173983596/

CUHK Student Union Talks
Time:
12-10 pm (12 – 1 pm Chan Kin-man)
Location: CUHK main library
More info: https://www.facebook.com/CUHK.SU/photos/a.416078851787863.103438.416069858455429/987348491327560/?type=3

Blue Ribbon March & Rally (Defend HK Campaign = Fu Chun-chung 保衛香港聯盟=傳振中)
Time:
1:30 – 5:30 pm
Location: Causeway Bay Hang Lung Centre to Wan Chai Canal Road bridge
More info: http://www.police.gov.hk/info/doc/nono/WCHRN15047906E.pdf

Blue Ribbon March & Rally (Occupy Central Not Represent Me, Man Shek 佔中不代表我,忠義民團石房有)
Time:
2-6pm
Location: Chater Garden to Police HQ to Tamar Park
More info: https://www.facebook.com/TANGTAKTAK/posts/1493584797602452:0

eXIBddtSeptember 29 (Tuesday)

CUHK Student Union Talks
Time:
12 pm – 12 am (12 – 2pm Long Hair)
Location: CUHK main library
More info:  https://www.facebook.com/CUHK.SU/photos/a.416078851787863.103438.416069858455429/987348491327560/?type=3

September 30 (Wednesday)

CUHK Student Union Talks
Time: 12 – 4pm
Location: CUHK main library
More info: https://www.facebook.com/CUHK.SU/photos/a.416078851787863.103438.416069858455429/987348491327560/?type=3

Police Look to Buy Hearts + Minds With ‘Free’ Gift

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Police-Hearts/51867446_HhshFM#!i=4339839177&k=rZSj3VM

With their reputation, integrity and ‘public trust’ at levels too low to accurately measure, the Hong Kong police instead of investigating crimes are blocking the street and looking to buy ‘hearts and minds’ with ‘free’ gifts!

Outside Wanchai MTR exit A4, at around 5:30pm on the 8 September, 2015, there’s a police van illegally parked blocking one westbound lane of Hennessy Road. Why’s the van there? To act as a poster billboard! That area of road is clear of bus stops and is used for car and taxi drop-offs to the MTR. The van’s location also forced members of the public to stand dangerously out in the middle of Hennessy Road to hail a taxi.

Unlike most illegally parked police vans, this one actually had turned off it’s engine – much to the obvious displeasure of the driver.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2015/Police-Hearts/51867446_HhshFM#!i=4339839099&k=BvZ2Grf