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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by Hon Kenneth Leung in the Legislative Council today (July 2):
Question:
It has been reported that the Police currently assign police officers to conduct "cyber patrol" for detection of crimes on the Internet. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the specific tasks and approach of the Police in conducting cyber patrol; the departments of the Hong Kong Police Force which conduct cyber patrol and the relevant staffing establishments;
(2) whether the Police keep the information, including texts and images, of the relevant web pages when conducting cyber patrol; if they do, of the method and criteria for keeping such information, and whether there is any requirement that information which will not be used for institution of prosecutions must be destroyed within a specified period of time; if there is such a requirement, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(3) of the scale of the cyber patrol currently conducted by the Police, including the respective numbers of web pages viewed and kept in each of the past five years; the performance indicators set for cyber patrol by the Police;
(4) of the number of crimes uncovered during the Police's cyber patrol, as well as the respective numbers of the related prosecutions and convictions, in each of the past five years, broken down by type of crimes; and
(5) of the number of cases in which the authorities instituted prosecutions against persons for their online acts under the common law offence of "committing an act outraging public decency" in each of the past five years, and the number of convictions among such cases?
Reply:
President,
(1) to (3) The Internet is a public platform with a large volume of information. As some people may use it as a medium and tool for crimes, the Police have the responsibility to combat such crimes and curb public contact with related criminal acts.
For the purpose of crime prevention and detection, various departments in the Police conduct "cyber patrol", substantively meaning to search for relevant information via public platforms on the Internet, where necessary. The Police shall, according to their operational priorities, conduct specific and professional search via such platforms for possible crime-related information (e.g. fraudulent bank websites, illegal football betting activities, dissemination of child pornography, trafficking of dangerous drugs and Internet criminal intimidation etc.).
Information search via public platforms on the Internet is only one of the many means of research of the Police for the combat of crimes. Setting performance indicators just for the Police's information search via public platforms on the Internet is considered inappropriate. The Police also do not maintain statistical figures of the web pages viewed and retained.
If the Police find any information which involves a criminal case on the Internet and decide to take enforcement action, such information shall become case evidence. In deciding whether the evidence (including that stored by electronic means) shall be retained or destroyed, the Police strictly observe the relevant court procedures, requirements on the handling and use of personal data under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) and the Force internal guidelines. Decisions shall be made after thorough consideration of the nature of individual cases.
(4) and (5) Information search via public platforms on the Internet is only one of the many means of research of the Police for the combat of crimes. The Police do not maintain statistical figures of cases ultimately detected through such a means, nor do the Administration maintain figures of cases in which prosecutions are instituted against persons for their online acts under the common law offence of "committing an act of outraging public decency".
Ends/Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:31
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