The Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner released a new leaflet (download here) this week reminding everyone of the new rules on disclosure of personal data that go into effect on October 1. From the accompanying press release:
1. Under the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Ordinance 2012, which will come into effect on 1 October 2012, it is an offence for a person to disclose any personal data of a data subject obtained from a data user without the latter’s consent and with an intent to (i) obtain gain for himself or another person, or (ii) cause loss to the data subject. It is also an offence if the unauthorized disclosure, irrespective of its intent, causes psychological harm to the data subject. The maximum penalty for these two new offences is a fine of $1,000,000 and imprisonment for 5 years.
Read more of the release here. Impressive that they include psychological harm regardless of intent.
Don’t you just hate it when others have more protective privacy laws than your own country provides you?