The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government
vowed on Monday to take more aggressive moves to curb the
deluges of unwarranted e-mails and crack down on illegal
downloading of intellectual property rights (IPR) products.
Speaking on a radio program broadcast to the city's some 7
million population Monday morning, Secretary for Commerce, Industry
and Technology Joseph Wong said a bill, which is expected to be
submitted to the Legislative Council in June or July, will propose
a heavy fine on anyone who repeatedly makes unsolicited phone calls
or sends unwarranted e-mails.
The Office of the Telecommunications Authority will contact the
relevant senders to stop their unwarranted deluge of messages once
nuisance is reported by a complainant, Wong said.
Meanwhile, the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau has
submitted an amended bill on the Copyrights Ordinance to
Legislative Council to enhance protection of intellectual property
rights in Hong Kong, he said.
The bureau will join hands with the Customs and Excise
Department and the Intellectual Property Department to launch a
publicity campaign on intellectual property protection next
week.
The campaign will appeal to parents to work together with the
government to guard their children from downloading proprietary
contents from the Internet, and highlight the around-the-clock
internet surveillance Customs undertakes.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2006)