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28 / Periscope

the government as law enforcement agents use arbitrary methods
to arrest them, as noted by Lokman Tsui, Assistant Professor at
the School of Journalism and Communication in CUHK.
In a poll of 1,023 respondents released by Hong Kong Public
Opinion Research Institute this August, public distrust level of
the Hong Kong government hit a historic record with 50.8 per
cent showing extreme distrust. This is the highest level since the
former British colony was handed back to China in 1997.
“When you have a situation where it’s not clear which law is
going to be used [and] how. Then, that creates a lot of distrust and
paranoia among the people,” Tsui says.
Tsui thinks surveillance is very one-sided in Hong Kong,
meaning that local authorities have laws and technology at their
disposal to look at citizens, but citizens have very limited means
to monitor the authorities.
“We never know when we are being watched, what they are
collecting, how long have they been watching you,” he says.
He points out two situations that aggravate the issue; unclear
guidelines and the special relationship between Hong Kong and
China.

We never know when we are being
watched, what they are collecting, how

long have they been watching you .

First, Tsui points out Hong Kong law enforcements can en-
quire a service provider for metadata of an individual for investi-
gative purposes. Metadata refers to the data that describes other
data. Service providers, who do not have specific baselines on
which they cannot reveal user data, can share them under law en-
forcement request. Once the data is collected, it is unclear how it
will be used against the people, in this case, the protesters.
Tsui adds that the barrier is very low in accessing data for law
enforcers because they do not necessarily need a search warrant
to request for relevant information for investigative purposes.
Apart from unclear rules, the extent to which Hong Kong
law enforcement shares data with Chinese law enforcement is Clockwise from left: Protesters
obscure. Tsui explains “Hong Kong and Beijing are two different in “black bloc” putting their
legal jurisdictions that are not subject to mutual legal assistance umbrellas up while marching;
treaty, an agreement between two countries on what conditions A protester in “black bloc” is
greeted by other protesters
you give data people and how they share the data.” in a demonstration; A smart
Law enforcement agencies can also seek help from companies lamppost along the road to
offering device-unlocking services and software to access or copy Kowloon Bay; Police watch
private data on locked smartphones, whether it runs Android or protesters from building.
iOS, according to Charles Mok, a legislative councillor of the In-
formation Technology constituency. These circumstances collec-
tively make people more alert to their privacy and information.