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Although Hong Kong law provides freedom of speech and press, and freedom of expression is protected by the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, [1] the Hong Kong national security law gives the government the power to "take down any electronic messages published" that the government considers endangering national security (see Hong Kong national security law). The government has blocked several anti-government, doxxing or politically sensitive websites after the commencement of the law (see blockages after 30 June 2020), leading to increased concerns of Internet censorship.
Government licences are not required to operate a website. There is some monitoring of the Internet. Democratic activists claim central government authorities closely monitor their e-mails and Internet use. [2]
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong and the SAR's charter, the Basic Law of the SAR, specified that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy except in matters of defence and foreign affairs. [2] Chapter III of the Basic Law outlines "Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Residents" including freedom of expression and association and privacy rights. [3] The Hong Kong Bill of Rights elaborates on these and other rights enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong. [1]
The Hong Kong government enacted the Hong Kong national security law on 30 June 2020. Under its Article 43, local law enforcement unit was authorized to censor any resources when handling cases concerning offense endangering national security. [4]
"Section 161: Access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent" of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap 200) which was enacted in 1993 before the widespread use the Internet and the growth of e-commerce generally, provides that it is an offence to obtain access to a computer:
Conviction upon indictment of any of these offences carries a maximum punishment of five years. [5]
Section 27A of the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap 106) enacted in 2000 provides that "any person who, by telecommunications, knowingly causes a computer to perform any function to obtain unauthorized access to any program or data held in a computer commits an offense and is liable on conviction to a fine of HK$20000". [6]
Pursuant to the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap 390), it is an offence to publish an obscene article. Publication covers distribution, circulation, selling, hiring, giving, or lending the obscene article. Distribution by e-mail falls within the definition of distribution, as does the placing of an obscene article on a website. Distribution does not require any element of financial gain. The definition includes "anything consisting of or containing material to be read or looked at or both read and looked at, any sound recording, and any film, video-tape, disc, or other record of a picture or pictures". An article will be considered obscene if, by reason by its obscenity, "it is not suitable to be published to any person". Obscenity includes "violence, depravity, and repulsiveness". The penalty for this offence is up to three years imprisonment and a fine of up to HK$1,000,000. [7]
It is an offence to possess, produce, copy, import, or export pornography involving a child under 18 years of age, or to publish or cause to be published any advertisement that conveys or is likely to be understood as conveying the message that any person has published, publishes, or intends to publish any child pornography. The penalty for creation, publication, or advertisement of child pornography is eight years’ imprisonment, while possession carries a penalty of five years’ imprisonment. [2]
The Copyright Ordinance (Chapter 528) provides the legal framework for copyright protection in Hong Kong. [8] In April 2011 the government introduced the Copyright (Amendments) Bill 2011 that, if passed, will introduce (i) a new technology-neutral exclusive right for copyright owners to communicate their works through any mode of electronic transmission, with criminal sanctions against those who make unauthorised communication of copyright works to the public; (ii) safe harbour provisions for online service providers; and (iii) additional factors to consider by the courts when awarding additional damages for copyright infringement. [9]
There are complaints that the proposed amendments prohibiting unauthorised use of copyright material in any medium without permission threatens freedom of speech. The bill may negatively affect works of satire or parody on the Internet because there is no "fair-use exception". The government's position is that the amendments strengthen intellectual property rights. Some pan-democratic activists and supporters termed the bill an "Internet Article 23" (a reference to Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23, controversial anti-subversion measures the government proposed in 2002 that led to Hong Kong's largest-ever street demonstrations, the proposed article was withdrawn in September 2003). [2] [10]
Article 43 of Hong Kong national security law states that platforms, publishers, and internet service providers may be ordered to take down electronic messages published that are "likely to constitute an offence endangering national security or is likely to cause the occurrence of an offence endangering national security". Individuals, organizations, and companies who do not comply with such requests could face fines of up to 100,000 HKD (US$12,903) and put into prison for six months. [4]
The Hong Kong chief executive may authorize the police to intercept communications and conduct surveillance to “prevent and detect offences endangering national security". [4]
There are reports of media self-censorship since most media outlets are owned by businesses with interests on the mainland, causing authors and editors to defer to the perceived concerns of publishers regarding their business interests. Some scholars suggest that Hong Kong-based academics practice some self-censorship in their China-related work to preserve good relations and research and lecturing opportunities in the mainland. [2]
In a poll published in June 2012 by the Hong Kong Journalists Association, 86.9% of the 663 journalists surveyed felt that press freedom had deteriorated in the past seven years. This is a 28.5% increase from a similar survey in 2007. Those who felt freedom had declined attributed the change to: tighter government control (92%), self-censorship in the industry (71%), interference from Beijing (67.5%), and pressure from the business sector (35.9%). According to respondents the policies that most affect the decline in freedom are: Spot news information being controlled by the police and the Fire Services Department (57%); releasing more official footage and articles and fewer news events being accessible to reporters (41.3); off-the-record briefings increasing tremendously (23.8); and a government proposal to criminalise stalking (16%). [11] [12]
Almost immediately after the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law in July 2020, TikTok ceased its operation in Hong Kong and replaced the option for Hong Kong users with Douyin, the strictly censored mainland Chinese version of the app by ByteDance. Users reported issues when using Hong Kong registered SIM cards even though they have connected to a VPN service, which indicates that TikTok used their users' SIM card information to block access from the territory. [13]
In March 1995, Royal Hong Kong Police raided all but one of the pioneering local Internet Service Providers (ISP) offering dialup service, confiscated their servers and records and shut them down for a week, blocking the access of 5000 to 8000 of Hong Kong's early Internet adopters. [14] The raids were thought to be instigated by Supernet, the one ISP not shut down, and coordinated by the Office of Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) working with the Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) on the premise that the ISPs were operating without applying for a then-obscure Public Non-Exclusive Telecommunications Service (PNETS) Licence. [15] The companies shut down were Hong Kong Internet & Gateway Services (HKIGS) hk.net, Hong Kong Link InfoLink Ilink, Internet Online Hong Kong, Cybernet, Internet Connections, and Asia Online.
In January and February 2008, the Hong Kong Police Force arrested ten people who were accused of obtaining, uploading, or distributing pornographic images after Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), a multi-billion entertainment company, filed a complaint about the availability of the photos on the Internet. [16] The images in question, which were explicit in nature, were of the Hong Kong actor Edison Chen engaging in sex acts with various women, several of whom were local actresses. [17] Chen admitted being the author and copyright owner of most of the photographs, and stated that the private photographs had been stolen and published illegally without his consent. A computer technician was convicted of three counts of obtaining access to a computer with dishonest intent, and received a custodial sentence of eight and a half months. [17]
The scandal shook the Hong Kong entertainment industry and received high-profile media attention locally and around the world. The police met with more than 200 people responsible for major Hong Kong websites and BBS communities to urge them to delete the pictures "as they have the responsibility to stop crimes". Related discussion threads were progressively deleted. The police ordered several locally registered websites and BBS management firms to submit information about their clients, and had retrieved the IP addresses of more than 30 Internet users who allegedly posted photographs. [18] The police crackdown raised questions over violations of the privacy and free speech rights of Internet users and the selective application of the law. [19]
Article 43 of the Hong Kong national security law, which came into force on 30 June 2020, authorized the police to order "a person who published information or the relevant service provider to delete the information or provide assistance." [20] (see Hong Kong national security law) Since then, the Hong Kong government has been blocking several anti-government or politically sensitive sites. (see below)
Hong Kong Internet service providers generally block websites in their home broadband and mobile data networks, and most public Wi-Fi networks are also affected. However, most providers do not implement blocking arrangements when offering enterprise networks.
HKChronicles is a wiki-like website that details the personal information of Hong Kong police officers and pro-Beijing individuals for doxxing purposes. On 7 January 2021, the website's owner Naomi announced on the website that she had received reports from users in Hong Kong that the website was inaccessible when using certain local Internet Service Providers (ISP). Several local news reporters confirmed that the site could not be accessed within the city. [21] [22] The police declined to comment on the blockage. However, in a statement, they said they "can require service providers to take restrictive actions against messages posted on digital platforms, which likely constitute the offense of endangering national security or incite a national security offense." [23] Hong Kong Broadband Network, one of the biggest mobile telecom companies in Hong Kong, said they have disabled access to the website in compliance with the requirement issued under the National Security Law on 13 January 2021. [24] [25] [26]
On 13 February 2021, Hong Kong netizens reported that the website of Taiwan's Transitional Justice Commission cannot be accessed from Hong Kong. Some local medias confirmed that they couldn't access the site without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). [27] [28] The police refused to comment on the blockage. [28]
On 24 April 2021, some netizens discovered that they could not enter the website of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (www.pct.gov.tw). Later, they reported that the official website of Democratic Progressive Party (www.dpp.org.tw) and Recruitment Centre of National Armed Force (https://www.rdrc.mnd.gov.tw) also could not be accessed from Hong Kong. Some local news medias confirmed. [29] [30] [31] The police refused to comment. [30]
By 27 April 2021, the Stand News retested the three websites and found out that the websites of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and Democratic Progressive Party are now accessible. However, they still couldn't establish a connection to the official site of Recruitment Centre of National Armed Force. [32]
Since 18 June 2021, some local ISP users reported they could not browse the website of 2021 Hong Kong Charter (2021hkcharter.com). Sources said local ISP received order from the police and prevented users from accessing the website from 18 June. [33] Initiators of the website said it was blocked on 19 June. Police refused to comment. [34]
On 28 September 2021, Stand News reported the website of June 4th Incident Online Museum (8964museum.com) was likely blocked. [35]
On 15 February 2022, several Internet service providers in Hong Kong were reported to be blocking the website of a U.K.-based group Hong Kong Watch. [36] [37] [38]
In October 2024, Flow HK received a take down demand from Hong Kong police. [39]
Website | URL | Category | Language(s) | Duration of blockage | Methodology | Current Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
HKChronicles | hkchronicles.com hkleaks.info blockedbyhk.com goodhope.school | Encyclopedia, | Chinese (Traditional), | 7 January 2021 - [40] [41] [42] | TCP/IP blocking [43] | Blocked[ citation needed ] |
Transitional Justice Commission | www.tjc.gov.tw twtjcdb.tjc.gov.tw | Governmental | Chinese (Traditional) | 13 - 20 February 2021 [45] [46] | HTTP blocking[ citation needed ] | Unblocked, the commission was dissolved, and the website was closed. |
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan | www.pct.org.tw | Church | Chinese (Traditional) | 24 - 27 April 2021 [29] [30] [31] | TCP/IP blocking[ citation needed ] | Unblocked |
Democratic Progressive Party | www.dpp.org.tw | Political organization | Chinese (Traditional) | 24 - 27 April 2021 [29] | Unknown | Unblocked |
2021 Hong Kong Charter | 2021hkcharter.com | Politics | English, Chinese (Traditional) | 18/19 June 2021 - [33] [34] | TCP/IP blocking[ citation needed ] | Blocked despite Closed Website |
June 4 Incident Online Museum | 8964museum.com | Politics | Chinese (Traditional) | 28 Sep 2021 - [35] | TCP/IP blocking[ citation needed ] | Blocked |
Hong Kong Watch | www.hongkongwatch.org | Politics | English | 14 Feb 2022 - [36] | DNS Tampering[ citation needed ] | Blocked |
Tiananmen Memorial Messages | 8964tiananmen.com | Politics | Chinese | 5 June 2022 - | DNS Tampering | Blocked |
Hong Kong Democracy Council | www.hkdc.us | Politics | English | 26 October 2022 - | DNS Tampering | Blocked |
GoArmy (recruitment website for the US Army) | www.goarmy.com | Military | English | Unknown - November 21, 2022 | TCP/IP blocking | Unblocked |
Samuel Bickett's blog | samuelbickett.substack.com | Military | English | Unknown | DNS tampering | Blocked |
Flow HK | flowhongkong.net/ | Blog and News | Chinese | 6 October - | DNS tampering | Blocked |
In Hong Kong, the suicide rate of primary, secondary, and post-secondary students is relatively high, particularly beginning in the 2014–2015 academic year. The suicide cases are not connected, but the frequency of suicides aroused public's attention to the mental health and academic pressure of Hong Kong students.
This is the results breakdown of the 2019 District Council elections in Hong Kong. The results are generated from the Hong Kong Registration and Electoral Office website.
This is a list of protests in January 2020 that were part of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. The protests continued to be buoyed up by the success of the pan-democrats at the November 2019 District Council Elections, but also continued to feel the effects of the mass arrests at the November 2019 siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. With the notable exceptions of protests on New Year's Day and on 19 January, protests remained smaller-scale but took place almost every day. It appeared that police, under its new chief Chris Tang, had changed its tactics to round up violent protesters early, aiming to avoid the spiralling into evening violence that had occurred in many of the earlier protests.
The month of June 2020 was the first anniversary of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. The decision taken by the National People's Congress on national security legislation and the alleviation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong led to a new series of protests and international responses. On 30 June, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the Hong Kong national security law which came into force the same day, leading to even more people protesting on 1 July.
The month of July 2020 in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests began with a turning point in the evolution of the protests, brought about by the Hong Kong national security law. The law, which had been passed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China on 30 June and come into effect on the same day, was widely seen as having the purpose of curbing opposition, in a broad sense, against the Chinese Communist Party in the city. The law had direct relevance to the protests, as it prescribes harsh penalties for the tactics that protesters had commonly used. Nevertheless, sizeable protests erupted throughout the city on occasion of the 1 July protests the next day, resulting in about 370 arrests, including at least ten on charges under the new law. The Hong Kong government, faced with the task of implementing a law that had been drafted and promulgated without substantial involvement by its own officials, was seen widely, including in the academic and media sectors, as being unable to draw a clear demarcation line between which acts would constitute punishable offences under the law, and which would not. The vagueness of the law, while refused by the city's police chief, was seen by pro-democrats and observers as a deliberate device to amplify its deterrence effect.
Cheng Tat-hung, also known as Tat Cheng, is a Hong Kong politician, formerly affiliated with the Civic Party. He was a member of Eastern District Council for Tanner from 2016 to 2021.
Wong Ho-wa is a Hong Kong data scientist and pro-democracy activist. He led the open government data community g0vhk from 2016 to 2021. He was an Election Committee member representing the information technology (IT) industry from 2016 to 2021 and ran for the Information Technology constituency in the 2020 Hong Kong legislative election as part of the pro-democratic caucus.
The offices of Apple Daily, once the largest anti-China newspaper in Hong Kong, and its parent company, Next Digital, were raided and executives arrested by the Hong Kong Police Force on 10 August 2020 and again on 17 June 2021. Some of the arrested and three companies of Next Digital were charged under the Hong Kong national security law. The 26-year-old newspaper was forced to close in June 2021 following the raids and freezing of its capital.
The written traditional Chinese characters for vertical banners are "直幡", and the horizontal counterpart, horizontal banners are written as "横額" in traditional Chinese.
Hong Kong 12, or 12 Hongkongers, are the twelve Hong Kong protesters, previously arrested by the Hong Kong police, detained by the Chinese authorities in 2020 on sea after a failed attempt to flee to Taiwan.
HKChronicles is a pro-Hong Kong democracy doxing website which details the personal information of Hong Kong police officers and pro-Beijing individuals. It was created by Naomi Chan, an 18-year-old high school student who is also the chief editor of the site.
2021 Hong Kong Charter is a political charter initiated by Hong Kong activists and politicians Nathan Law, Ted Hui, Baggio Leung, Sunny Cheung, Ray Wong, Brian Leung, Glacier Kwong, and Alex Chow, who went into self-exile abroad after Hong Kong national security law became effective. Its purpose is to unite Hongkongers around the world.
On 10 August 2020, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow was arrested by Hong Kong police under Hong Kong national security law. Her arrest caused widespread controversy in the international community.
A suicide attack took place at approximately 22:10 on 1 July 2021, in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. 50-year-old Leung Kin-fai approached a Police Tactical Unit police officer from behind and stabbed him, injuring the officer's scapula and piercing his lung, before Leung committed suicide by stabbing his own heart. Leung was immediately subdued by surrounding police, arrested and sent to hospital. He died at 23:20.
The Sixth District Councils of Hong Kong was the meeting of the local councils of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. The membership of the council is based on the 2019 election. The term of the session is from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023. The pro-democracy camp in conjunction with the localist camp achieved its biggest landslide victory in the history of Hong Kong, gaining absolute majority in votes and electoral seats in all of the 18 District Councils. The election was widely viewed as a de facto referendum on the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
Leung Kin-fai, was a Hong Kong merchandiser known for stabbing a 29 year old police officer in Causeway Bay and committing suicide immediately afterwards. The attack took place on a day when three sensitive dates converged – the anniversary of the territory's handover from British to Chinese rule, the 100th Anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, one year after the imposition of the Hong Kong national security law. The victim, Wai-ming survived the stabbing after going through 7 hours of emergency surgery. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Wai-ming said that he could not forgive "a man who thought he could evade responsibility by committing suicide”, as that sent a wrong message to society, and that his message to Leung was that he believed violence was wrong and is never the solution.
A dramatic manifestation of the far reach of the Hong Kong national security law was the mass arrest of 54 pro-democracy activists on 6 January. The arrested stood accused of subverting state power, a crime under the national security law, for their participation as candidates or in other capacities, in the 2020 Hong Kong pro-democracy primaries, which was part of a plan to increase pressure in parliament for democratic reform. Most of them were released on bail the following day. For the first time, the National Security Department of the police cited the national security law to block the website of HKChronicles. There were also several convictions in relation to the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.
On 22 February 2021, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, proposed that Hong Kong's governance had to be in the hands of "patriots". Observers considered it possible that the definition of "patriot" would require candidates for public office to embrace the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, as also suggested by Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang; and that this signified a departure from the position that had prevailed since a speech by China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in 1984.
On 29 December 2021, Stand News, one of the few remaining pro-democracy media outlets in Hong Kong following the passage of the Hong Kong national security law in 2020, was raided by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force. Media executives and journalists were arrested on the charge of "conspiring to publish seditious publications" on a large scale. As a result of the raid, Stand News ceased operations, the organisation's website and social media became inactive, and all its employees were dismissed. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, along with leaders in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and United States, condemned the raid.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. "2018 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices". U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets . United States Department of State.{{citation}}
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