Hong Kong needs independent body to supervise government requests for web users' data: researchers

The city needs an independent body to supervise thousands of requests by the government to obtain the personal data of web and mobile users from service providers, University of Hong Kong researchers say.

It should also set up a system to notify users when the authorities sought their information, the researchers suggested.

They acknowledged, however, that the major reasons behind the requests were crime prevention and detection and law enforcement.

Global concern about the extent to which governments secretly collect data spiked after former US whistle-blower Edward Snowden exposed mass cybersurveillance by American and British spy agencies.

Yesterday, HKU's Journalism and Media Studies Centre issued its latest Hong Kong Transparency Report, which showed that last year five government bodies submitted to service providers a total of 5,511 requests for user data such as IP addresses.

"Especially in the post-Snowden era, people are reasonably wary about the scope and scale of government surveillance and censorship," report author Jennifer Zhang warned.

The police made most of the requests - 4,557 - followed by the Customs and Excise Department (873). About 70 per cent of the requests were granted.