Man, 32, held as high school feud gets ugly

Christine Tang

A 32-year-old man was arrested by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data yesterday for disclosing personal data of his former classmate in secondary school.

The privacy watchdog arrested him in the New Territories on suspicion of violating section 64 (3A) of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.

An investigation revealed that the victim and the suspect were former secondary school classmates. Their relationship turned sour because of personal grudges.

In January, two messages containing personal data of the victim were posted in two open discussion groups on a social media platform, alongside some negative comments and allegations against the victim.

The personal data disclosed included the victim's Chinese name, former occupation and his photo.

The suspect has been released on bail pending further investigations.

The office reminded the public not to dox others because of personal disputes.

"Doxxing is not a means to resolve disputes as it would only escalate conflicts," the watchdog said.

The PCPD also reminded the public that doxxing was a serious offence and that an offender was liable upon conviction to a fine up to HK$1 million and imprisonment for five years.

In a separate case, a 50-year-old engineering manager was yesterday jailed for two and a half months for doxxing a police officer and his two daughters.

Johnson Leung Fai was convicted of disclosing personal data without consent and another count of disclosing personal data without consent and causing specified harm to the subject or family members. He had pleaded not guilty to the two counts.

An Eastern magistrate's court was told that Leung disclosed the personal information of the police officer who shot a protester in Sai Wan Ho during the 2019 social unrest, and a photo of the police officer and his two daughters on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Leung said his account on X might have been hacked and the posts were not published by him, adding that he did not log out of the platform when he discarded his old computer.

But magistrate Jeffrey Sze Cho-yiu said Leung's explanation did not make sense as he had been publishing a post about gaming daily since 2022, showing that he was a frequent user of X.

The court found that Leung must have the intention to subject the policeman and his two daughters to psychological harm as he revealed the officer's name and made false accusations against him.