Technology chief assures Hongkongers about the safety and security of their data

After an agreement between the mainland and Hong Kong was signed to facilitate data flow, the technology chief assured the Hong Kong residents not to worry about their personal data being leaked.

Hong Kong and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last month to promote safe and secure cross-border data flow in the Greater Bay Area. Under the arrangement, the data from the mainland's banking, healthcare and other industries could be sent to Hong Kong safely and orderly.

Speaking at a radio program this morning, the Secretary for Innovation, Technology, and Industry Sun Dong stated that the signing of the MoU was to facilitate the mainland's data flow in the GBA.

For local data and sensitive personal information, Sun assured that the existing policies such as The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance will still strictly control the data flow, thus protecting the personal data of Hong Kong citizens.

"Other important data from other sectors, such as medical and financial, are also regulated by the laws in Hong Kong, so there is no need to worry for them as well", Sun added.

He stressed that the agreement could also contribute to the convenient and orderly flow of cross-boundary data from the mainland to Hong Kong, which is beneficial to building Hong Kong into a global data hub.