After a video showing a woman being led into a car by plainclothes officers spread online today, @hkpoliceforce condemned those accusing them of kidnap.
Police said a 26-year-old was lawfully arrested in Wan Chai today on suspicion of accessing a computer with dishonest intent.
It’s now reported that the arrested woman is a staff member at the Immigration Department, and is accused of using her access to ImmD’s system to enable the doxxing of thousands of people, including police officers, judges, civil servants and lawmakers. thestandnews.com/politics/%E8%A…
Charges: one count of misconduct in public office and five counts of obtaining access to a computer with a view to dishonest gain for herself or another
There are five dates from December 2019 to August 2020 where she is accused of accessing ImmD's system hk.appledaily.com/local/20200822…
However, the total number of alleged instances of unauthorised access could be over 100, which led to her allegedly acquiring the personal data of 225 people and handing it over to a Telegram channel admin.
The woman was denied bail pending a further hearing in October.
The recent clarification of the computer offence covered the use of one's own device.
However, para #33 of that judgment says "it does not create a precedent for future cases involving the use by a person of a computer allocated to them by their employer"
In other words, the offence was narrowed, but it hasn't gone away, and there's still plenty of legal argument to be had over its application and scope.
Since the topic of doxxing has entered Hong Kong's public discourse in a big way over the past year, this is something to watch
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