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Colleen Lee

Young people have been warned of  risks to their privacy after a survey found nearly a third of them put their personal details on blogs or social networking websites.

The poll, that questioned 500 people aged between 12 and 24, found that 32 per cent posted data such as their  names, pictures, videos and birthdays on the websites.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data  commissioned   City University to conduct the poll last month.

'[Once] the information is on the internet, [there] is no way you can totally erase it,' said Chan Kin-tin, the chief personal data officer. 'A number of search engines  like Google and Yahoo collect information and data from the internet  every second,' he said.

'They will save part of it in their memory,' he added.

Mr Chan warned that people's personal information might be viewed by anyone using those search engines.

'You don't know, years later, how that information will be used. It may cause harm to you,' Mr Chan said.

The poll found 62 per cent of respondents   were worried about the  problems of disclosing personal information online.

Their main concerns were about  identity theft  and the risk of being contacted by strangers.

'It is a good sign, as it shows that many of them have an awareness of protecting their personal data,' said Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Roderick Woo Bun.

But the survey found that only 48 per cent  of the respondents adopted online security measures to protect their data.

Around 47 per cent changed their passwords regularly, 14 per cent hid their real identity and 14 per cent allowed only their friends to view their personal details.

The privacy commissioner will hold a seminar for youngsters on Wednesday  at the Hong Kong Central Library to provide tips on privacy protection when writing on blogs and personal webpages.

It is part of Privacy Awareness Week which was launched yesterday.

Complaints about the disclosure of personal data without someone's  knowledge   increased  from five in 2005 to 31 last year.

The commissioner has received 35 complaints so far this year.

Mr Woo said it showed public awareness of privacy protection had increased.  The commissioner  was also reviewing  the 1996 Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance,  to see if there was a need to target online privacy problems and  review the current penalties, Mr Chan said.



Young warned of online fraud