HONG KONG, March 3 (UPI) -- Hong Kong's government has published a proposed wiretapping and covert surveillance bill.
Analysts predict that discussion over the proposed legislation will be stormy and contentious as it opens the possibility that Beijing could help determine who might be targeted under the law.
The 88-page bill was approved by the Executive Council on Feb. 28 and distributed to legislators the next day.
The legislation is largely a continuation of previous Legislative Council proposals and incorporates several earlier, controversial measures that pro-democratic legislators have criticized for weeks.
If the bill is enacted it will establish a judicial panel along with a commissioner on interception of communications and surveillance, which will have the power to decide on wiretap and surveillance applications in "highly intrusive" cases.
Cases determined not to be "highly intrusive," where "a person is not regarded as being entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy" would only require officials to seek permission from an intra-departmental authorizing officer.
