The Hong Kong legislature passed a law Sunday that allows the government, with the permission of a judge, to use telephone wiretaps, e-mail scans and other surveillance techniques in the name of public security.
Eighteen legislators left the chamber to protest the bill after almost 200 amendments they had put forward were voted down. The Interception of Communications and Surveillance Bill was passed 32-0 after a four-day marathon debate.
While the law enables the public to seek compensation for wrongful surveillance, law enforcement agencies are under no obligation to notify targets afterward. Thus, most people will not know they had been spied upon.
The bill has been described by critics as the biggest threat to civil liberties in the former British colony since a controversial anti-subversion bill that brought half-a-million protesters onto the streets in July 2003.
