Hong Kong privacy watchdog’s order to remove names from website would create an ‘Orwellian memory hole’, says market analyst

Market analyst challenges decision by privacy commissioner to redact names on public records

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Market analyst David Webb said the legislative intent was to "keep private data private, not to make public data private". Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 5:00pm, 13 Jul 2015Updated: 3:05am, 14 Jul 2015

Hong Kong society risks creating an "Orwellian memory hole" if it allows an order by the privacy watchdog to remove information from a website, a market analyst argued at a hearing yesterday.

David Webb, who runs Webb-site.com was challenging the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data's order for him last year to redact names that appeared in reports on three court judgments on a matrimonial case that were handed down years ago. The former investment banker said that if people could sanitise their past by asking media to suppress their archives and then run for public office, then "the information of 'haves' will be in a position of power against the 'have-nots'".

"We will be creating Orwellian memory holes in society, and even worse, entire media archives may become inaccessible to the public," he told the Administrative Appeals Board, under the Chief Secretary's Office.

Cindy Chan, legal counsel for the privacy commissioner, said the public had no need to know about the private lives of the people involved in the court case, especially after so many years.

The names were recorded in files published on the judiciary's website in 2000, 2001 and 2002, following open court hearings.

Webb's website, which offers information about Hong Kong for investors, published three reports on the case with hyperlinks to the judgments.