7/17/2020 CACV73/2020 JUNIOR POLICE OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION OF THE HONG KONG POLICE FORCE AND ANOTHER v. ELECTORAL … 51. In our judgment, it is not difficult to envisage cases where a person’s right to privacy and right to vote may be severely encroached upon by the unrestricted publication of the electoral registers outside the context of doxxing. Take, for example, a person who is a victim of domestic violence. Such a person could have changed residential address to hide from a violent partner and could have justifiable concern over the unrestricted public disclosure of the new address. If the person wishes to vote, he or she has to inform the electoral authorities of the new address, which would then become publicly available in the published registers in the form of the Linked Information. Assuming that the partner has a general idea as to the district in which the victim is residing, it would not be difficult for the partner to track down the victim with the Linked Information through public inspection of the register. In the absence of any opt-out mechanism, the victim would be forced to choose between risking personal safety and giving up the right to vote. A similar dilemma may arise for someone who tries to escape from the threatening acts of a stalker. These examples are not exhaustive. 52. Whilst these may not be common occurrences, we cannot say there is no real possibility that the Linked Information may be misused to track down a target of vengeance or stalking. Though Hong Kong should not blindly follow what is happening in other jurisdictions and this Court must carry out the proportionality analysis with reference to the local circumstances, the fact that there are provisions for “silent”, “unpublished” or “anonymous” electors in Australia, New Zealand and the UK[11], all of which seek to cater for genuine and properly evidenced fears for personal safety, reflects that there are legitimate concerns in these regards. Such possibility, in our view, should be taken into account when assessing the extent and consequences of infringement of the right of privacy and the justification for such infringement. https://legalref.judiciary.hk/lrs/common/search/search_result_detail_frame.jsp?DIS=128057&QS=%2B&TP=JU&ILAN=en 17/39