Legislation

On Sunday, 6 August 2006, at 2.30 a.m., the Hong Kong Legislative Council, after a prolonged and at times litigious debate, passed the Interception of Communications Surveillance Ordinance (ICO) in Hong Kong with a vote of 32–0. The ICO is the first successful attempt to regulate the interception of citizens' private communications by the Hong Kong government. A review of the literature shows that there has been no comprehensive, systematic and critical assessment of the IOC since its passage. This article provides a critical assessment of ICO, with a twist. Instead of evaluating the ICO based on preconceived and conventional Western jurisprudential principles and foreign legal practices, the article assesses ICO with reference to prevailing (Chinese‐Hong Kong) cultural standards from within, i.e. that of Qing‐Li‐Fa (QLF).