Five New Offences Proposed to Crack Down on Cyber-Related Crimes
Hong Kong currently has no unified regime governing cybercrime. Reliance was previously placed on one offence targeting cyber security, namely “Access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent” (s.161 of the Crimes Ordinance). That offence has been under scrutiny for its ambiguous scope.The Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong (“LRC”) commenced the consultation of five new cyber-dependent offences on 20th July 2022, aiming to target computer-enabled crimes targeting other computers. The following sections would briefly introduce the proposed offences and their applications:
Illegal access to program or data
Definition: Unauthorized access to program or data (aggravated if with intent to carry out further criminal activities)
Maximum penalty: 14 Years Imprisonment
Access to certain information online is oftentimes implied, for example, a search engine’s port scanning of websites. Such permission shall still be tolerated.
Illegal interception of computer data
Definition: Unauthorized interception, disclosure, or use of computer data carried out for a dishonest or criminal purpose
Maximum Penalty: 14 Years Imprisonment
The proposed new offence has an expanded scope, as compared to the Telecommunications Ordinance, which encompasses interference of metadata which is excluded by the Telecommunications Ordinance.
Illegal interference of computer data
Definition: Intentional interference (damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration, or suppression) of computer data without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
Maximum Penalty: Life Imprisonment
LRC targets data interference that would be unauthorized and may be intentional.
Illegal inference of computer systems
Definition: Illegal interference of computer system (as opposed to computer data) and/or hindrance of lawful use of computer systems
Maximum Penalty: Life Imprisonment
As the interference of data would inevitably affect the computer system, the LRC is still unsure as to the degree of interference required for this offence.
Making available or possessing a device or data
Definition: Knowingly making available or possessing a device or data made or adapted to commit an offence
Maximum Penalty:14 Years Imprisonment
Though the use of intrusive software is an offence, the law aims to target both the supply and demand of such software.
In a nutshell, the new proposed offences serve to plug loopholes in the existing law. It is worth noting that Hong Kong shall have jurisdiction over such cases if the crime is linked to Hong Kong (e.g. the victim/ criminal resides in Hong Kong, or the target computer, programme or data is in Hong Kong). Please feel free to contact us if you have any enquires.
