Government transparency advocate David Webb recently published online a list of Hong Kong residents, including both their names and identity numbers gleaned from public information, South China Morning Post reports. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) warned Webb was in violation of Hong Kong’s data privacy law, and the list was removed. Columnist Tom Holland opines that identity card numbers are so public and widely available that no company should use them for customer authentication, nor should they be considered highly personal and sensitive data by the PCPD.
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