Hong Kong cybercrime law should treat security threats as ‘aggravating factors’
Law Reform Commission shares recommendations for sweeping proposed legislation intended to clamp down on cybercrime
Hong Kong’s Law Reform Commission has called for acts endangering national security to be treated as aggravating factors under sweeping proposed legislation that aims to clamp down on cybercrime.
The report also proposed allowing adults supervising youngsters to access the latter’s electronic devices to protect their interests and ensure their safety, but rejected including a public interest defence in the planned legislation to exempt whistle-blowers.
The proposed law will cover five specific offences: illegal access to programs or data; illegal interception of computer data; illegal interference with computer data; illegal interference with systems; and making available or possessing devices, programs or data for committing a cyber-related crime.
For most offences outlined in the proposals, the maximum sentence is 14 years in prison. Similar existing offences carry jail sentences of two to five years.
But Chan suggested that aggravated cases of interference in computer systems that put lives at risk should be punishable by life imprisonment, including disruptions to critical systems such as those for the railway, the airport and hospitals.