The government has been urged to update the definition of ‘personal information’ in the Anti-Doxxing Act to better protect victims of revenge porn, as some struggle to get rid of photos of themselves that have been shared without their consent.
The law was introduced in 2021 to criminalise the unauthorised sharing of personal information.
But former Privacy Commissioner Stephen Wong said the threshold for prosecution was too high, because under the law the definition of personal information depends on whether it is practicable to ascertain, directly or indirectly, a person’s identity.
He said changing the definition from “ascertainable” to “identifiable” would lower the bar for such victims to obtain legal protection.
“Because of technology… it is quite possible to identify a person without knowing the identity of the victim. That’s why the global trend is that as long as it’s identifiable, the personal data of a victim doesn’t need to be determined, and therefore protection should be given to the victim,” he said.
In an interview with RTHK, revenge porn victim June, a fictitious name to protect her identity, said she was one of the cases that didn’t meet the threshold for prosecution under the anti-doxxing law.
Her former partner took intimate photos of her last year and promised to keep them to himself. However, after they separated, she found that these photos had been shared on several Instagram accounts.
She contacted the Data Protection Commissioner for help, but to no avail.
“They told me that he didn’t put your name or Hong Kong ID on the photo, so there’s nothing we can do for you,” she said.
The privacy watchdog says it has arrested 26 people for “disclosing personal information without consent” after receiving a total of 1,113 complaints about doxxing over the past two years.
June was eventually able to get the images removed from social media with the help of RainLily – an NGO dedicated to protecting people from sexual violence. RainLily works with Meta to remove non-consensual images from their social media platforms.
But her nightmare continued when she found the same photos printed on the street earlier this year. June reported them to the police, but no arrests were made.
The Anti-Voyeurism Act, introduced two years ago at the same time as the Anti-Doxxing Act, criminalises the non-consensual publication of intimate images. It was intended to tackle an alarming rise in such crimes.
But the number of prosecutions has been low. Of the 1,207 complaints received and 830 arrests made, only four people have been prosecuted and convicted for “publishing or threatening to publish intimate images without consent”.
In response to RTHK’s enquiries, the police said that image-based sexual abuse cases are complex and it’s extremely difficult to identify and trace offenders. They explained that these cases are unique due to the use of overseas social media platforms and false identities by the perpetrators.
RainLily’s Senior Advocacy Officer, Jacey Kan, says June’s experience is just the tip of the iceberg.
“The problem of non-consensual publication of intimate images has become increasingly serious over the past two years. In the case of RainLily, there were 123 cases in 2021, but by 2022 the number had almost doubled. There was a law, but then we rarely see cases being prosecuted,” she said.
But June said she wouldn’t give up seeking justice.
“I don’t think I can give up, because it’s almost like giving up myself if I give up this case. Maybe the law will not stand up for my case… but morally it is not right,” she said.