HONG KONG: Surveillance bill ignores 3G phones, critics say 

Legislators urged the government to modernise its draft covert surveillance bill, saying its provisions fail to cover new technology.

The debate concerns "type two surveillance," for which police will need permission from a judge to initiate. The bill defines "type two surveillance" as monitoring, listening or recording with a surveillance device.

But legislators at yesterday's committee meeting told government officials they had not addressed using mobile phones to track individuals.

Liberal Party legislator Sophie Leung Lau Yau-fun said that with the growing capabilities of 3G phones fitted with global positioning systems, the locations of people could be easily tracked. She said this type of technology was not considered in the draft ordinance.

"It is so easy for people to identify where you are," she said. "These are very common devices already."

If law enforcers were unable to include specific legislation on future technology, "then the criminals may be able to do whatever they want."

The legislation would enable law enforcement agencies to use surveillance or tracking devices as long as they did not "interfere with the interior of any conveyance or object without permission."

So, for instance, where a tracking device was attached to the outside of a vehicle, judicial warrants would not be necessary. But when placed inside someone's briefcase, it would have to be authorised by a judge.

Democrat James To Kun-sun suggested the new law should take into account the possibility that police could remotely gain access to and interfere with users' mobile phones, enabling them to track people. He urged the government to change the wording of the bill to include electronic and other similar interference.

Legislators are continuing to scrutinise the covert surveillance bill in an effort to ensure it is enacted by an August 8 deadline ordered by the High Court when it ruled the current law and an executive order had no valid legal basis.