What’s there to hide?

First the vehicle registry, now land records…

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) called on authorities on Wednesday to shelve amendments to land registration regulations that could restrict media access to land records – a public database vital for news reporting in a city where property is a pillar of the economy. 

…Currently, there are no restrictions on who may access the land records and searchers do not need to provide supporting documents. Members of the public only need to declare compliance with the city’s privacy laws to search for records.

The new rules state that searches can only be conducted for nine purposes deemed legitimate for accessing records, including academic and market research.

News reporting is not among the nine specified purposes, although “public interest” is listed as a valid ground. However, any application will be vetted by the Land Registrar on a case-by-case basis.

These are public databases – there are no obvious reasons why the information should not be free for anyone to see. And since checking land records is essential to any property transaction, it is not even possible to restrict access. The official explanation for the change is ‘privacy’. But whose privacy, and why? Why should anyone wish to hide vehicle or land ownership? More to the point: why is news reporting missing from the list of ‘legitimate’ purposes for searches?

Numberwang provides an in-depth explainer on the Election Committee Subsector Election…

…of the 4,116,965 registered electors in Hong Kong, fewer than 0.084% of the electorate has an individual vote in next month’s election.

And back on the topic of access to information…

The names of the 5,894 corporate entities who are eligible to vote are publicly available, but not online. But to view them you must make an appointment with the Registration and Electoral Office for a 90-minute inspection session at its Cheung Sha Wan or Kwun Tong office. 

Stick around for the role played by ping pong balls.

The weirdest part of this highly convoluted system is that it’s all pretty much irrelevant. The next Chief Executive will be decided in Beijing, and members of the ‘all-patriots’ legislature are all screened to the extent that they might as well be hand-picked. And with 99.9% of the electorate not taking part, the process does little to confer legitimacy.