Hong Kong government making more requests for Google to hand over user data

Hong Kong authorities have become more active in requesting access to individuals' Google accounts. And with nearly half of the demands refused, there are now calls for each request to be accompanied by a judicial warrant to guarantee legitimacy.

The government and law enforcement agencies submitted 359 requests to Google to hand over information on 371 users in the first six months of the year - more than double the number made by the Japanese government but less than half those in Singapore, according to a Google Transparency Report released last week.

Google, whose figures show data requests rising worldwide, approved only 48 per cent of Hong Kong demands.

In 2010, the city filed 140 user data requests. The first privacy commissioner for personal data in Hong Kong, Stephen Lau Ka-men, said the main reasons behind the rise could be the increasing amount of data on the internet and an increase in crime. Last year, technology crimes in Hong Kong surged 70 per cent.

A spokesman for the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer said: "The requests are mainly related to crime prevention and detection as well as law enforcement."

Charles Mok, who represents the information technology sector in the legislature, said: "I see this trend as alarming as we have little way to judge whether the requests are legitimate."