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Opinion
SCMP Editorial
SCMP Editorial

EditorialMore effective action needed against the rise of cyberbullies

  • Latest examples of malicious misuse of personal data in city amount to widespread assault on privacy, but there is need for balance in measures taken

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A Lennon Wall display at a pedestrian underpass at Tai Po. Photo: Felix Wong
SCMP Editorial
Until recently concerns about cyberbullying have focused mostly on student victims and evidence of links to feelings of depression, anxiety or stress and even suicidal thoughts. That is worrying enough, prompting calls for more legal protection of personal information and photographs posted on social networks against malicious circulation. But few could have foreseen the avalanche of complaints about cyberbullying and data leaks that has engulfed the privacy watchdog since the anti-government protests began in June – let alone that police officers and their families would become primary targets. Privacy commissioner Stephen Wong Kai-yi says more than 600 cases have been handed to police for further investigation, out of 683 complaints of “doxxing”, or the posting of private documentary data online, and cyberbullying.
Sadly, this reflects a trend on both sides to resort to the misuse of personal information to attack and exert pressure on opponents. It is a new dimension of cyberbullying. For example, government opponents dig up personal information on police and others and post it to social media and on “Lennon Walls” across the city. On the other side, Wong’s office says it has been tipped off about online links to personal data and pictures of more than 60 people, believed to be protesters, with a warning to employers not to hire them.

According to Wong, large-scale doxxing and leaks have followed an ugly trend, involving threats and psychological danger to the victim. More than 70 per cent of complaints involved police officers and their families, including threats against children. He rightly termed this “horrendous … especially doxxing with criminal intimidation and incitement for people to commit unlawful acts”.

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He says cases have been referred to the police because his office lacks authority to prosecute. More than 20 years after the launch of safeguards for personal data entrusted to government and businesses, information posted on social networks remains in need of more legal protection.

Perpetrators are usually prosecuted under other laws not designed to counter bullying, such as defamation, copyright and obscene publication. That said, there is room for the watchdog to be much more proactive in spreading public awareness of the seriousness of cyberbullying and possible legal consequences.

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