National security law: Hong Kong internet firms ‘will have to comply’ with police requests

Analysts say newly adopted law gives authorities unfettered power, raising concerns over online privacy

‘Now the law has given police the power to ask the companies for assistance, we will just have to do it … there is no resisting this’

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Analysts say the security law gives authorities unfettered power, raising concerns over online privacy. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 9:00am, 3 Jul 2020Updated: 3:18pm, 4 Jul 2020

Hong Kong’s internet service providers will have no choice but to help police with national security requests now that officers have been given “unfettered” power, analysts say, warning that online privacy and freedom could be under threat.

Under the new national security law Beijing has imposed on Hong Kong, police no longer have to seek court orders before requiring internet users or “relevant service providers”– believed to cover social media platforms and also firms – to remove information or help with an investigation.

Lento Yip Yuk-fai, chairman of the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association, said that businesses would have to comply with the new law when police made requests.

“In the past, police would need court orders before asking the providers for assistance. But the force has sometimes contacted our members and made the requests without the orders. There were companies that did not know police were supposed to secure court orders first and they would just cooperate with the force,” Yip said on Thursday.

“Now the law has given police the power to ask the companies for assistance, we will just have to do it … there is no resisting this.”

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