TNAG-0821-FCO40-1028-Study-of-computerisation-of-personal-data-and-threat-to-priv-1978 — Page 3

HKK 413/2

LAST PAPER

20 March 1978

HKK 4/3/2

1973

I M Lightbody Esq CMG JP Secretary for Administration Government Secretariat HONG KONG

COMPUTERIZATION OF PERSONAL DATA

1.

Thank you for your letter of 21 February letting me know the current situation. I am pleased that the Data Protection Committee was able to help you.

2. You ask if I can enlarge on the statement in my letter of 8 July last year that the question of privacy for computerized personal information would need delicate handling for UK political reasons. In saying this I had in mind those politicians here who make it their business to attack the Hong Kong Government at every opportunity. Any government which tries to put personal information about individuals onto computers is treading on sensitive ground - such action immediately raises fears about intrusion of privacy and misuse of information by those

However who would not normally have access to it. illogically such fears are likely to be all the greater when the action is being taken by a Government which is presented by its critics as undemocratic and arbitrary. The Hong Kong Government's critics in the House of Commons are quite capable of playing on these fears to embarrass the Hong Kong Government if we give them the chance. I do not think this danger can be entirely avoided, but I agree that the cautious approach you are adopting so far should enable you to minimize it. The adoption through legislation of principle on the lines of those recommended by the Hong Kong Computer Society would not only help to alleviate public anxiety in Hong Kong but would also provide us with useful ammunition to deal with ill-informed criticism in this country.

3. I hope that this answers your query; I will be very interested in learning of your progress.

JAB Stewart

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