Bloomberg's report on cyber rules biased, says govt
The Hong Kong government on Tuesday said it opposes a report by Bloomberg which quoted US firms as saying they were concerned about the city’s proposed new legislation to enhance cybersecurity of critical infrastructures. Bloomberg said in its report earlier that some US tech firms had warned that the proposed cyber regulations could grant the SAR government “unusual access” to their computer systems; and giving authorities “overly broad powers” could threaten the integrity of service providers.  The article also said the American Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce have also submitted letters during the public consultation period.  But the SAR administration called Bloomberg’s report biased, saying it had taken the views of the submissions out of context.  “In the one-month consultation of the legislative framework ended on August 1, the HKSAR Government received 53 submissions, in which 52 submissions supported the legislation and made constructive suggestions, including those from the Asia Internet Coalition, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce,” a government statement wrote.  “The proposed legislative framework only concerns protecting the Critical Computer Systems (CCSs) of the Critical Infrastructure Operators (CIOs), which in no way involves the personal data and business information.” It pointed out that similar legislation already exists in other jurisdictions, such as the mainland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the European Union and Singapore. “CIOs have the responsibility of properly responding to cyberattacks. Only when a CIO is unwilling or unable to respond to an incident on its own would the Commissioner's Office consider applying to a Magistrate for a warrant to connect to the CCSs or install programmes in the CCSs in view of necessity, appropriateness, proportionality and public interest,” the statement added.  A government spokesman said the administration will continue to engage industry stakeholders in formulating the legislative regime and the related Codes of Practice.