HK Government's Draconian Response to Uber

Why does the government want Uber to operate like Hong Kong taxis?

Uber is trying to prove to the government that it has the support of Hong Kong people, and in its online campaign, "IChooseUber", it has garnered some 12,000 submissions praising the car-hailing app service.

Kenneth She, Uber Hong Kong's general manager, said he was "blown away" by the support.

"This means riders are looking for the choice to move around the city the way they want, and driver-partners are hoping for the choice to earn extra income on their own terms," he said, adding that Uber was ready to meet the government to find a way to legalize and regulate the trade.

Uber Hong Kong general manager Kenneth She

The government's response to this car hailing app where people can conveniently book cars online, pay immediately by credit card, and can rate their driver too?

Uber must operate just like how taxis do.

HUH?

Transport minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said Uber needs to adjust its business model and operate like taxis, while he continued to push the idea of premium taxis, that would essentially operate like Uber.

It doesn't seem like he has even tried Uber before or understands how it works.

Is he in the 21st century? And has he tried to hail an ordinary taxi before? The drivers pick and choose who they want to take, even though that is completely illegal, and they all aren't available around 4pm when they change drivers. And then there are the personal hygiene habits of many of them...

Taxi drivers really need to step up their game, and Cheung thinks premium taxis are the way to go?

Democratic Party lawmaker Wu Chi-wai, who sits on the Legislative Council's transport panel, said the government's lack of finding legal and regulatory solutions to allow Uber to operate in Hong Kong showed it was not ready to deal with the "shared economy".

Taxis here need to be seriously revamped with better service

Information technology sector lawmaker Charles Mok said the city had become "the laughing stock of the whole world" because the government decided to "stay in the Stone Age" and not embrace new technology.

Uber is filling a gap in the market -- a choice for people who can't hail a taxi, or would rather pay via credit card, and get a clean, quiet service, and stimulates the economy because drivers are earning extra money whenever they want.

Isn't Hong Kong supposed to be about fair competition? The government dragging its heels on this one, revealing how closely linked it is with the taxi industry. Cheung is and the bureaucracy are twisting themselves into pretzels to try to persuade the public not to use Uber.

This latest development will only spur Uber customers to use the service even more and perhaps get a few more converts.

Getting Uber to be like Hong Kong taxis must be the joke of the week.

HK Police Censoring the Net?

Did you know in Hong Kong that the police can make requests to delete online posts in the city?

While some should be taken down, such as "obscene articles, phishing websites, and accessing a computer with criminal/dishonest intent", there is an uncomfortable surge in the number of requests since the Occupy protests in late September.

In 2011, there were 12 requests, 23 the following year, 30 in 2013 and 29 until September last year. When Occupy began until February this year, there were 101 requests alone.

There are concerns these police requests to take down posts are aimed at political activists, after a 23-year-old man was arrested on charges of "criminal/dishonest intent" in October after posting on an online thread about protest plans.

Jennifer Zhang, a researcher with the Hong Kong Transparency Report at the University of Hong Kong finds the jump in numbers concerning.

"It's highly possible that police are abusing their law enforcement power to conduct online censorship. There is a great lack of transparency here. In fact, according to a few forums I've been talking to, police often 'order' them to take down users' posts by phone or email," she said.

When questioned in the Legislative Council about this, the Hong Kong government defended the police's actions, saying "the existing mechanism functions effectively".

Only when lawmaker Charles Mok, who represents the information technology functional constituency did the police give the number of 101 requests by the police to take down online posts. This compares to the total of 65 requests from 2011 to 2013.

"It is a controversial area of law enforcement," says Zhang. "There has to be a balance between criminal prevention and freedom of speech, and that decision should not be made by the police alone."

However, when Mok requested an independent body scrutinize the process, the government declined.

He says there is a need for transparency and public scrutiny to allay the public's fears of privacy concerns.

The police have also requested online user information, such as emails and IP addresses. There were 4,234 such cases last year.

"Again, there's no clear legal regulation, independent oversight or user notification in place," Zhang said.

She says the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance is very vague when it comes to protecting user privacy, thus allowing the police to request information from service providers for very simple and general "criminal prevention" purposes.

With the growing number of requests to delete posts online, one can only imagine that soon Hong Kong may have its own army of censors trolling the internet for anything remotely subversive. And it could also signal the rise of the city's version of wumao or "50-Cent Party", who are hired by the Chinese government to comment favourably about Beijing. Surely they won't get 50 mao, or 50 cents for each comment?

That just means that talk is cheap.