The Administrative Appeals Board (AAB) has upheld rulings by the Privacy Commissioner of Hong Kong against two magazines for publishing covert photographs taken of several celebrities from inside their homes that were secretly obtained from the outside with the use of telephoto lenses and other camera equipment. The AAB affirmed the Privacy Commissioner’s rejection of the magazine’s public-interest claims and upheld the commissioner’s directive that the magazines develop privacy guidelines for covert photos. Face Magazine Ltd v Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data(2014) AAB 5/2012 and Sudden Weekly Ltd v Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (2014) AAB 6/2012. (This development updates reference on page 108.)
The AAB rulings can be found here:
Face Magazine Ltd v Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (2014) AAB 5/2012
Sudden Weekly Ltd v Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (2014) AAB 6/2012.
The magazines announced in March 2014 they would challenge the Privacy Commissioner’s directive for the privacy guidelines as outside the scope of his authority. “Magazines challenge privacy orders over photos of TVB stars,” South China Morning Post, 19 March 2014.
