*****************************************

Following is a question by the Hon Yeung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mrs Regina Ip, in the legislative Council today (July 11):

Question:

It has been reported that a magazine sponsored a game near the April Fool's Day this year, falsely claiming that participants would win big prizes if they correctly guessed a specified telephone number and got connected to it, which caused lots of people calling certain numbers and brought serious nuisances to the users concerned. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council ;

(a) of the government departments to which the users concerned may direct their complaints;

(b) of the number of complaints about telephone nuisances received by each of these departments in each of the past five years, and the number of these complaints which involved games launched by the media or pranks played on April Fool's Day; as well as the outcomes of the relevant departments handling of such complaints; and

(c) whether existing legislation prohibits anyone from abetting other persons to cause nuisance to telephone users by calling their numbers; and of the measures in place to ensure that the public will not be subject to such nuisances?

Reply:

Madam President:

(a) Generally speaking, members of the public who suffer from telephone nuisances may report their complaints to the Police.

(b) The information system currently used by the Police to record all reported incidents has been in full operation since late 1997. The number of reports classified as "nuisance calls" for the past three years are as follows:

  Year            Number of reported 
              cases of "nuisance calls"
 ------     -------------------------
 1998                   1 877
 1999                   2 101
 2000                   2 365

However, the existing recording system does not break down the complaints in terms of their nature and types. Hence, figures regarding nuisance calls which involve games launched by media shows or pranks played on the April Fool's Day are not available.

Upon receipt of complaints on "nuisance calls", Police may, subject to the consent of the victims, liaise with telephone companies concerned to attempt to trace the source of nuisance calls by keeping track of the call records. If an offence is suspected to have taken place, and there is sufficient evidence against identified culprits, prosecution action may be taken.

Separately, the Office of Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) received a complaint regarding telephone nuisance in late March this year. The case involved a game organised by a magazine which induced numerous nuisance calls. Its circumstances were similar to the one mentioned in the preamble of this question. On receipt of the complaint, OFTA approached the organiser and advised it to stop the game and take appropriate measures to notify the participants of the game to stop making such calls. Upon OFTA's advice, the organiser stopped the game and apologized to the people affected.

(c) Under section 20(c) of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap. 228), any person who persistently makes telephone calls without reasonable cause and for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any other person commits an offence and is liable to a fine of $1,000 and to imprisonment for 2 months. Furthermore, by virtue of section 89 of Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221), any person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission by another person of an offence shall be guilty of the like offence.

End/Wednesday, July 11, 2001

NNNN