(13 August 2013) The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data ("PCPD") issued the Guidance onUse of Personal Data Obtained from the Public Domain to help data users comply with the requirements under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance ("the Ordinance"), in particular, the Data Protection Principles ("DPPs").
Personal data in the public domain refers to the personal data which is publicly available and accessible. Common sources include public registers, public directories, court documents, public notices, publications and more.
Personal data, be it publicly available or not, is subject to protection under the Ordinance. In particular, DPP3 restricts the use of personal data to the original purpose for which the data is collected, or a directly related purpose, unless the explicit and voluntary consent of the data subject is obtained.
Mr Allan Chiang, the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data advises, "the fact that a data subject’s personal data can be obtained from the public domain should not be taken to mean that the data subject has given blanket consent for use of his/her personal data for whatever purposes. A responsible and privacy respectful data user should observe the original purpose of making the personal data available in the public domain (such as the purpose of establishing the public register in the enabling legislation) and the restrictions, if any, imposed by the original data users on further uses. Where the original purpose of collecting the data and making it available in the public domain is not explicitly defined, anyone who intends to use the data for secondary purpose should not go beyond the reasonable privacy expectation of the data subjects. The test here is whether a reasonable person in the data subject’s situation would find the re-use of the data unexpected, inappropriate or otherwise objectionable, taking into account the sensitivity of the data and the context of the initial data collection."
Copies of the guidance note can be obtained from the PCPD office or be downloaded online: www.pcpd.org.hk/english/resources_centre/publications/files/GN_public_domain_e.pdf
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