Hong Kong must stand tall in the fight for civic rights

One of my childhood heroes was the American actor John Wayne, perhaps best known for his Oscar-winning performance in the western True Grit. This fascination continued into my college years when I was elected deputy sheriff of the John Wayne Appreciation Society while at Bristol Polytechnic. And on my personal website, there's a photo of me saluting a statue of him at John Wayne Airport, in California, just a few years ago.

Like all heroes, he was not perfect. But (at least in his films) he could tell the difference between good and evil, was not afraid to stand up for what was right or to protect the weak. And he could shoot straight.

All of which is by way of introduction to the subject of America's global spying programme and the extraordinary revelations of Edward Snowden.

Several things jump right off the page. First, the Patriot Act, passed by the US Congress in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. While perhaps understandable at the time, it has turned out to be a disgraceful piece of legislation and subject of wide abuse. It urgently needs to be revisited.

Second, the critics of the draft Article 23 legislation in Hong Kong - which included the very same Americans who supported their own, more draconian legislation - were correct that robust safeguards must be included because there will always be a tendency for the police and other agencies to push the envelope. We need this legislation because it is our constitutional obligation, but we need to ensure we get it right.

Third, congressional oversight has been a failure, partly because many members did not familiarise themselves thoroughly with what was being done in their name and partly because officials lied under oath when giving evidence to them.

Fourth, judicial oversight turned out to be a joke because it was done behind closed doors and an extraordinarily high percentage of applications were accepted (just 11 of almost 34,000 were rejected).