Protest Breaches Threaten Hong Kong’s Digital Hopes
Privacy leaks linked to the summer unrest may hurt the city’s share of a $31 billion business.
Hard hats can’t protect against all damage.
Photographer: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images
Hong Kong’s ambitions to be an international data-center hub are a potential casualty of the city’s mass protests. Privacy breaches stemming from a summer of clashes between demonstrators and police threaten to erode confidence in the city as a base for foreign companies to set up storage facilities. To alleviate concerns, the government needs to improve security and regulation in the handling of sensitive data.
Last month, dozens of protesters were arrested after being treated in the emergency ward of a public hospital following battles with riot police. The city’s Hospital Authority subsequently denied leaking patient data – despite the discovery of an internal document labeled “for police” that listed names of protesters seeking medical treatment, according to the South China Morning Post. At around the same time, the personal information of more than 800 police officers was hacked and released online.