Hong Kong telecoms worker accused of using company computer to track down, publish personal data of police officer’s father
- Prosecutors also say the man used his position to record the data of dozens of public figures, police officers and their relatives
- The alleged doxxing took place during last year’s months of social unrest
A Hong Kong telecoms worker has been accused of sharing online the personal details of a police inspector’s father after using his company computer to unlawfully access the data of public figures, officers and their families during last year’s anti-government protest movement.
Opening the trial on Monday, prosecutors said Chan King-hei, 33, saved the personal data of 29 individuals and recorded the addresses of 28 police quarters, as registered on Hong Kong Telecommunications’ computer system, despite the fact that he had no work-related reason or authority to search for those clients in the first place.
Prosecutors also told the District Court that Chan had later admitted to impulsively sharing some of the information, specifically details relating to an inspector’s father, on a doxxing group on social media after he noticed most of the already published personal data online was incorrect and felt the need to share accurate information he had verified.
Chan, however, is seeking to strike those statements from the evidence, claiming he was forced to surrender the password to his phone, and was intimidated into making involuntary admissions without the presence of his lawyers, when he wanted to be represented.
Chan has pleaded not guilty before District Judge Frankie Yiu Fun-che to three counts of obtaining access to a computer with a view to dishonest gain for himself or another, one count of disclosing personal data obtained without consent, and another count of loitering.
Acting senior public prosecutor Human Lam Hiu-man said more than 2,000 police officers and 1,000 family members had been doxxed, cyberbullied and harassed since June of 2019.
The time frame coincided with the beginning of the anti-government protests, which were sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill, but expanded to include broader issues such as police accountability and universal suffrage.