Petition declaring "Secrecy Breeds Corruption" unveiled in newspapers

It was printed in 5 publications.

The Hong Kong government’s proposed law limiting the information available to the public about corporate directors in order “to enhance protection of the privacy of personal information” is drawing widespread and rising protests.

A petition declaring "Secrecy Breeds Corruption" appeared in five Hong Kong newspapers yesterday morning and was signed by over 1,700 journalists, educators and students that strongly oppose the change.

The petition said the change is an "infringement of the public interest" that would have a "great impact on professional and citizen journalists' right to conduct investigative reporting."

The government plan would remove directors' residential address and their full Hong Kong identification numbers from the Company Registry. This information is regularly used by both journalists and financial firms to help trace who is running a Hong Kong-registered company.

Information from the Company Registry was used in two stories last year that looked into the wealth of the families of China's ruling elite. A number of stories on property scandals in Hong Kong also relied on information from the registry’s database.