Stop the cold calls: Hong Kong's privacy watchdog demands stricter rules on telemarketing
More than 90pc of Hongkongers receive person-to-person marketing calls, says commissioner in plea to extend restrictions
The privacy watchdog has pleaded for stricter controls on unsolicited marketing phone calls, which it says dog more than nine out of 10 Hongkongers.
Citing a survey it conducted in March, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data reported that 91 per cent of the 534 people questioned reported receiving person-to-person, or P2P, marketing calls, up from 84 per cent in 2008.
Unlike recorded messages, P2P calls cannot be blocked by signing up to the city's do-not-call register, with which 2.6 million numbers have been registered since 2008. The commissioner wants the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance extended, so the HK$100,000 fine for calling a number on the register applies to calls made by human beings.
Other countries, including Britain, the US, Australia and, most recently, Singapore, bar P2P calls to numbers on their do-not-call registers.
Commissioner Allan Chiang Yam-wang said that at the time of the previous study of direct marketing calls, in 2008, the problem was not serious enough to warrant a change in the law.
"The situation has drastically deteriorated and … it is now time for the government to reconsider our proposal [to amend the Ordinance]," he said.