The Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team completed its second annual drill to test the timeliness and response capability of many of its member computer security incident response teams on 21 December 2005.

The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2 announced the results of the second annual Global Information Security Workforce Study, conducted by global analyst firm IDC. Results revealed that the profession continued to mature, and ultimate responsibility for information security moved up the management hierarchy. The press release is attached for reference.

The Government will conduct a Request for Proposal exercise to invite the private sector to collaborate with the Hongkong Post Certification Authority (HKPCA) in providing digital certificate (e-Cert) services or to provide them on its behalf.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.1stdigibank.com". The website is operated by an alleged "First Digital International Bank", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

The Intellectual Property Department (IPD) has joined with the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth (CAJOBS) to fight piracy and promote the respect of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

The Hong Kong SAR Government is committed to protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs), with an effective legal framework on IPR protection, backed up by our rigorous enforcement actions and on-going public education programme, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang said on November 16.

At the opening ceremony of the Information Security Summit 2005 on 8 November 2005, Mr K K Yeung, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Productivity Council urged local companies to take proactive steps to ward off information abuse and cyber attacks through proper security management.

A question raised by the Hon Leung Yiu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council on November 2.

A question raised by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Dr Patrick Ho, in the Legislative Council on November 2.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.incombc.com". The website looks similar to the official website of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited ("ICBC (Asia)"). ICBC (Asia) has clarified that ICBC (Asia) has no connection with the fraudulent website.

Customs officers from Special Task Force mounted a large-scale operation against manufacturing, distribution and retailing of pirated optical discs (PODs) in Mong Kok and Yuen Long on October 13.

Hong Kong Customs and the Hong Kong Reprographic Rights Licensing Society launched a reward scheme to encourage people to provide information on activities involving underground illegal photocopying of books on October 13.

The Anti-Internet Piracy Team of Hong Kong Customs yesterday cracked a copyright infringement case in North Point involving the sale of photocopied past examination papers of Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority through an Internet auction site on October 7.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has warned people in Hong Kong about a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.iswco.com". The website is operated by an alleged "International Switzerland Cooperation Bank", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

The Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Timothy Tong, said the Department would continue to take vigorous enforcement actions against any commercial piracy activities to protect legitimate business operators and the trade integrity of Hong Kong in the international arena on September 27.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, spoke to the media after officiating at the launch ceremony of the APEC Architect Register on September 16.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.icbcpconline.com". The website looks similar to the official website of The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued an alert to people in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.transglobefinance.net". The website is operated by "Transglobe Finance Security and Delivery International", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

Over 800 representatives from the information technology, trade and manufacturing sectors attended the "Information Security Forum 2005" organized by the Hong Kong Productivity Council at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre on 31 August 2005 to obtain the latest updates on security technologies and solutions.

The full text of the speech by the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Howard Dickson, at the Information Security Forum 2005 on August 31.

Hongkong Post has introduced a new e-Cert "Use More Get More" Reward Program to encourage people to use e-Cert more often in various secure online services. In the process, e-Cert holders will earn fabulous gifts.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.icsbc.com". The website is operated by an alleged "International Chinese Switzerland Bank Corporation", which claims that it offers various banking services to people in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.ltoffshore.com". The website looks similar to the official website of Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Hong Kong branch. Lloyds TSB Bank plc, Hong Kong branch has clarified that it has no connection with the fraudulent website.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.swissfirstonline.com". The website is operated by an alleged "Swissfirst Asia", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.lonba.com". The website is operated by an alleged "Banco Yong Feng", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong. People should be aware that the alleged "Banco Yong Feng" is not authorised under the Banking Ordinance to carry on banking business or the business of taking deposits in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.iba-hk.com". The website looks similar to the official website of the former International Bank of Asia, now Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Fubon Bank).

The Government was stepping up its educational campaign to enhance public awareness of the problem of spam and to foster better co-operation between the community and the Government to tackle spamming, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang said.

The transcript of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, speaking to the media after officiating at the launch ceremony of the Anti-Spam Roving Exhibition on August 12.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.ibaonlinebanking.com". The website looks similar to the official website of Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited ("Fubon Bank"), formerly International Bank of Asia.

Hong Kong Customs officers smashed a piracy syndicate with triad operators, believed to be active in the sale of pirated optical disks (PODs) in Mong Kok, in an operation codenamed "Glacier" on August 4.

US-based email security provider IronPort Systems has selected Hong Kong for its Greater China regional headquarters. The newly established Hong Kong office will include sales, marketing and technical support functions.

To promote comprehensive collaboration on Intellectual Property (IP) protection, and enhance the overall strength and competitiveness in the Pan-Pearl River Delta (Pan-PRD) region, the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs) have joined the IP cooperation agreement concluded between the nine Pan-PRD provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.iba4u.com". The website looks similar to the official website of the former International Bank of Asia, now Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Fubon Bank). Fubon Bank has clarified that Fubon Bank has no connection with the fraudulent website.

The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (IRD) wishes to alert members of the public to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name www.hkird.com and emails from that website. The website looks similar to the official website of IRD (www.ird.gov.hk).

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (SCIT), Mr John Tsang spoke to the media after attending the Kick-off Ceremony of Innovation Festival 05 on July 9 (Chinese version only).

Following is a question by the Hon David Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council on July 6.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority announced the introduction of more stringent measures against senders of unsolicited fax advertisements (junk fax) on July 4.

The Legislative Council will hold a meeting at 11am in the Legislative Council Chamber on June 29. During the meeting, Members will debate a motion on enhancing the regulation of commercial marketing practices.

The appeal to young people especially primary and secondary school students was made by Hong Kong Customs before the school summer holidays on June 27. The department called on students to lend full support to the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) by staying away from copyright or trade mark infringement activities in the street and on the Internet.

Following its public consultation on the review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance (Cap 528), the Administration has drawn up its preliminary proposals on various copyright-related issues.

The Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights agreed to step up co-operation to raise the intellectual property awareness level of businessmen in both places on June 24.

Customs officers of Lok Ma Chau Control Point seized five units of optical disc mastering and replication machine, worth about $1 million from an outgoing 40-foot container truck in an anti-smuggling operation on June 22.

The full text of speech by the Postmaster General, Mr Allan Chiang, at a media conference on "e-Cert provides Two-Factor Authentication for Secure e-Banking" on June 23.

Hongkong Post is encouraging people to use e-Cert as "two-factor authentication" in secure e-banking. The move by Hongkong Post comes in conjunction with 12 banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong starting to roll out "two-factor authentication" in e-banking transactions this month to meet the new requirements set out by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

The full text of the speech by the Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Howard Dickson, at the media conference on "e-Cert provides Two-Factor Authentication for Secure e-Banking" on June 23.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.hkchampionltd.com". The website is operated by an alleged "The International Commercial Bank of Rui Feng (Hong Kong)", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

The Anti-Internet Piracy Team of Hong Kong Customs seized the largest quantity of pirated disks for sale via an Internet auction site on June 16.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang spoke to the media after addressing the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Society's luncheon on June 17.

The Government has put forward a package of preliminary proposals to improve our copyright protection regime to help foster an environment conducive to the development of Hong Kong as a knowledge-based economy to the benefit of the community as a whole.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.amcobankers.com". The website is operated by an alleged "AMCO Corporation", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

Over 100 unauthorised pay TV decoders, smart cards and smart card programmers were seized in three operations mounted in Sham Shui Po by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority and the Police against the sale of unauthorised pay TV decoders within the past four weeks.

While fingerprints and DNA are still being used to solve most crimes, advances in computer technology have brought a new dimension to contemporary criminal investigation. Hong Kong Police computer forensics examiners, therefore, are teaming up with crime investigators in analysing digital evidence, with a view to detecting crime and cracking down on cybercrime, be it "stealing virtual online game weapons" or money laundering using a handy PDA.

A seminar aimed at strengthening co-operation between Guangdong and Hong Kong on intellectual property matters, especially those concerning small and medium enterprises, was held in Huizhou on June 7. A second seminar will be held in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, on June 9.

Retailers from different sectors joined together and discussed how to win the confidence of consumers through participating in the "No Fakes Pledge Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection Seminar" on June 3.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.guarantee-trust.com". The website is operated by an alleged "Guarantee Trust Finance and Security International", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Hong Kong Association of Banks and the Hong Kong Police Force jointly announced the launch of two-factor authentication for Internet banking by the banking industry on May 30.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.hk-iba.com". The website looks similar to the official website of formerly International Bank of Asia, now Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (Fubon Bank).

A question on use of e-certs raised by the Hon Tsang Yok-sing and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council on May 25.

According to the second "Survey on Business Attitudes to Intellectual Property" undertaken by the Intellectual Property Department, the awareness level of intellectual property rights among the business sector in Hong Kong is remarkably high; however, some misconceptions still persist. Around 90% of respondents understood the areas that were protected by intellectual property. More respondents (88.3%) knew that downloading photos/pictures/articles from the Internet without authorisation and reproducing them for business purposes was an infringement of IP rights, an increase of 10.1% compared with 2004.

To promote awareness of and respect for intellectual property among the younger generation and in view of the positive role of the Scout Association of Hong Kong, the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) launched the "Scout Programme on Respect for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)" on April 30.

A local anti-spam legislation could prevent Hong Kong from becoming a safe haven sheltering illicit spammers, the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, said on April 28.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, spoke to the media after delivering a speech on controlling spam at the luncheon meeting of the Foreign Correspondents' Club on April 28.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.guo-co.com". The website looks similar to the official website of Guoco Group Limited and contains a link to Hong Leong Bank Berhad, Hong Kong Branch, one of its group companies.

Hong Kong has joined the international community to enhance cooperation and exchange of information to fight the problem of spam. The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on April 27 joined 11 agencies in the Asia-Pacific region to become the founding signatories of the Seoul-Melbourne Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Co-operation in Countering Spam.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, spoke to the media on the laying of charges by the Customs and Excise Department against an alleged copyright infringer in a BitTorrent case on April 27.

Customs and Excise Department on April 27 laid charges against an alleged copyright infringer in a BitTorrent (BT) case. The 38-year-old man will appear in the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts on April 29.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology (SCIT), Mr John Tsang spoke to the media after attending the "Talkabout" programme of the Radio Television Hong Kong on April 25.

A question on promoting the use of wireless services and technologies raised by the Hon Tsang Yok-sing and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council. Over the past three years, the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) has received a total of six enquiries in respect of spamming of chargeable SMS (one in 2004; five in 2005), but has not handled any complaints on spamming of chargeable SMS.

In response to media enquiries on the US-Hong Kong Policy Act Report released by the US Department of State, a spokesman for the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau said on April 13 that the HKSAR Government noted that the report recognised Hong Kong's efforts in combating piracy and would continue to spare no effort in protecting intellectual property rights.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.hcfbl.com". The website is operated by an alleged "Hong Kong Commerce and Finance Bank Ltd.", which claims that it offers various banking services to members of the public in Hong Kong. The public should be aware that the alleged "Hong Kong Commerce and Finance Bank Ltd." is not authorised under the Banking Ordinance to carry on banking business in Hong Kong.

Following the operation against the selling of pirated Japanese cartoon discs in Sino Centre in Mong Kok on March 23, Customs officers of Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau and Special Task Force raided its shopping arcade at April 1. A total of 20,000 pirated discs, worth about $600,000, were seized from 15 stores. This was the second operation mounted in ten days, which was part of the intensive follow-up crack down action targeted at that selling black spot.

On April 1, 2005, Mr. John C Tsang, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, said that the Government would continue its crack down action against pirated CD and infringement activity on the Internet. In order to maintain a stable and effective Intellectual Property Protection System in this rapidly changing digital age, the Government would closely monitor the development of new technology.

Local companies adopting firewall or advanced security measures against computer attacks are on the increase, according to the latest Information Security Survey 2004 jointly conducted by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), HKSAR Government, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre (HKCERT) and the Technology Crime Division of the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Force. The scope of the survey covered the types of computer attacks and their impacts in the past 12 months, actions undertaken, the latest security technologies adopted, as well as security management and manpower policies implemented.

The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) will hold a Briefing Session in the afternoon on 13 April 2005 at Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. All interested organisations, who would like to apply for the "Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance" Related Publicity and Education Activities Subsidizing Scheme 2005 - 06, should attend. Articles under the regulation of the COIAO include newspapers, magazines, books, comics, CD-ROMs, internet homepages as well as video tapes and VCDs not having been classified under the Film Censorship Ordinance.

Customs officers on March 23 seized $6 million worth of pirated VCDs in two raids. In a raid against a known black spot for sales of VCDs in Mong Kok, officers of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau and Special Task Force seized about 20,000 pirated VCDs worth about $600,000 from 22 stores.

Hong Kong Customs officers have cracked a case involving the sale of pirated disks of Western movies and Japanese cartoons via an Internet auction site, resulting in the seizure of a computer, and about 4,000 pirated DVDs and VCDs, worth about $100,000. Acting on a complaint from the copyright owner, Customs officers of the Anti-Internet Piracy Team (AIPT) conducted extensive investigations. With the help of Internet Services Providers, they succeeded in locating a computer relating to the case.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to the form of Internet banking fraud, by which bank account information, including passwords, is stolen by fraudsters through the use of Trojan Horse programmes planted in personal computers. These programmes are inadvertently installed by victims when they visit certain dubious websites or open attachments to incoming emails from dubious sources.

A 30-year-old Nigerian man in connection with an email scam valued at US$26 million was convicted of attempt obtaining property by deception and possession of false travel document and was sentenced to four years' imprisonment at District Court on March 16.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority and the Police mounted another successful raid operation on March 10 against the sale of unauthorised pay TV decoders in Sham Shui Po. Three suspected unauthorised decoders, 37 smart cards and nine smart card programmers were seized and three persons were taken to the police station to assist in further investigation.

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology recently announced the campaign "STEPS" to combat spam. One key measure under "STEPS" is the enactment of anti-spam legislation. Anti-spam legislation is about prohibiting "unsolicited electronic messages (UEM)". The first question is what types of UEM should be prohibited – all UEM or just some types of UEM? The drafting of the anti-spam legislation would need wide discussions.

Customs neutralised a syndicate, believed to have auctioned pirated disks via an e-commerce system and sent the disks to overseas buyers by express mails. Initial investigations showed that the syndicate had procured copyrighted disks from overseas and made use of production lines in the Mainland to replicate disks unlawfully. Once pirated disks were produced, they were smuggled into Hong Kong for packaging and storage. The syndicate auctioned disks and accepted orders from overseas buyers via an e-commerce system; and send the disks to overseas buyers by express mails.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public in Hong Kong to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.banochi.net". The website looks similar to the official website of Bank of China Limited.

The Government would take a number of measures including launching a campaign entitled "STEPS" to fight Hong Kong's spam epidemic:
"S" stands for strengthening existing regulatory measures: in conjunction with relevant industry associations and service providers, the Government will start work in two areas - fax and SMS and MMS.
"T" stands for technical solutions: the Government will collaborate with the industry to organise seminars, conferences and exhibitions to promote the latest anti-spam technical solutions to all users.
"E" stands for education: the Government will work with industry organisations to develop an information campaign on spam to raise the level of awareness and provide accurate information and useful resources to consumers
"P" stands for partnerships: one possible partnership was the development of a common blacklist to filter spam at the local Internet service provider level.
"S" stands for statutory measures: the Government believed it would be necessary to enact legislation to regulate spamming.

The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) has conducted a survey on school burglary between Jan 25 and Feb 4, 2005. Questionnaries were distributed to schools in Hong Kong investigating the burglary status on school teaching equipment last year. The survey has indicated that 87 schools have been burgled once in the past year, while 14 schools were burgled twice. Schools have suffered heavy losses due to burglary including projectors which cost almost ten thousands dollars each and notebook computers which cost over ten thousands dollars each. For more information, please refer to the HKPTU's website at
http://www.hkptu.org/educatio/newsdgrd/news61.htm.

With the support of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU), the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) launched the "Intellectual Property (IP) Tutor Programme in Schools" on Feb 19, 2005. The objectives of the programme are to promote awareness of and respect for IP among students, to train up a pool of qualified teachers with broad understanding of IP, and to provide other teaching opportunities to people with professional teaching qualifications. The programme will run from late February to mid-May 2005. Seven tutors and 14 schools have signed up to participate in this pilot programme. For more information, please refer to
http://www.ipd.gov.hk/chi/pub_press/press_releases/
press_release_19022005_c.pdf.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) wishes to alert the public to reports of certain fraud cases it has recently received involving fraudulent letters purported to be issued by the HKMA and a couple of banks: International Bank of Asia Limited and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Hong Kong Branch. Typically, recipients of these fraudulent letters were told that they could receive a large sum of money (say US$ 90 million) by paying an advance fee (say US$ 180,000) to a designated bank account.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to an email purporting to be sent from The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). The email requests customers to use an embedded hyperlink to connect to a fraudulent website and verify their account information by entering their Internet banking account's user name and password. HSBC has clarified that it has not sent these emails to its customers and has no connection with the fraudulent website.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to a suspected fraudulent website with the domain name "www.iivb.com". The website is operated by an alleged "Ivory Bank", which is not authorised under the Banking Ordinance to carry on banking business in Hong Kong.

The Consumer Council in association with the International Consumer Research and Testing conducted a test on some computer anti-virus and firewall products. In general, the installation and deinstallation of these products were rated mediocre while there is considerable variations among the software in the protection against various types of computer viruses and hacking. The test areas include their protection, management and resources, documentation, installation/deinstallation, ease of use and versatility.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.scbkoline.com". The website looks similar to the official website of Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited has clarified that it has no connection with the fraudulent website.

Senior Superintendent Kenneth Li Kin-fai, head of the Commercial Crime Bureau's Technology Crime Division of the Police, said that the number of bogus financial websites targeting Hong Kong residents increased from nine in 2003 to 39 in 2004. The increase may be due to the sharp rise in the use of internet for commercial activity in Hong Kong. But the total number of computer crimes had decreased from 588 in 2003 to 560 in 2004. The Police wishes to alert members of the public in Hong Kong not to trust these phishing emails and bogus websites. For more information, please refer to the following links:

URL://www.mingpaonews.com/20050212/gsa1r.htm
URL://the-sun.com.hk/channels/news/20050212/
20050212031924_0001.html
URL://hk.news.yahoo.com/050211/60/19cw7.html
URL://hk.news.yahoo.com/050211/10/19d0p.html
URL://hk.news.yahoo.com/050211/12/19d1f.html

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, called on people to give their views on the consultation document on the Copyright Ordinance. The Government released the consultation document on the review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance on December 9, 2004, for a two-month consultation. The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau held a public forum on February 5, 2005 to solicit public views on the issues covered in the consultation document.

The full text of the speech (Chinese only) by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, at the public forum on review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance on February 5.

Heads of European and Asian intellectual property offices will exchange information on the latest developments in IP protection with the World Intellectual Property Organisation and other leading IP organisations when they meet in Hong Kong on February 1 in a regional conference jointly organised by the Europe Patent Office and the Intellectual Property Department.

Customs officers from Special Task Force have smashed a syndicate, which is believed to have exported pirated DVDs of a Japanese cartoon to the United States, and sold them in Hong Kong. They seized about 240,000 pirated DVDs worth about $6 million.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert people to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.orientofchina.com". The website looks similar to the official website of China Construction Bank Corporation, Hong Kong Branch (CCBCHK). CCBCHK has clarified that the bank and any of its group companies have no connection with the fraudulent website.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority and the Police mounted another successful raiding operation on January 19 against the sale of unauthorised pay TV decoders in Sham Shui Po. A total of 4 suspected unauthorised decoders, 21 smart cards and 9 smart card programmers were seized and 3 persons were taken to the police station to assist in further investigation.

The full text of the speech (Chinese only) by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, at the seminar on January 23.

The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau will hold a public forum on February 5 to collect views on ways to further improve Hong Kong's legislative regime for the protection of copyright. The Government released a consultation document on the review of certain provisions of the Copyright Ordinance on December 9, 2004. The public forum is part of the two-month consultation exercise launched by the Bureau. Members of the public are invited to attend.

A survey commissioned by the Intellectual Property Department reveals that the people of Hong Kong are increasingly aware of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights. Since the survey started in 1999, public awareness of intellectual property rights has markedly improved. This is reflected by the fact that the awareness level of the relevant legislation on intellectual property in Hong Kong has increased from 55.2% in 1999 to 71.2% in 2004.

The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and the Police jointly mounted a successful raiding operation on January 13 against the sale of unauthorised pay TV decoders in Sham Shui Po area. Seven suspected unauthorised decoders, 41 smart cards and 30 smart card programmers were seized and five people were taken to a police station to assist in further investigations.

A 30-year-old man was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment at Eastern Magistrates' Courts after being convicted of one count of dealing with crime proceeds. Enquiries revealed that he had provided his bank account to an unknown person met in ICQ platform in connection with the bogus electronic mails to receive a sum of $42,300. As instructed by the person, the man deducted five per cent of the money he received and remitted the remaining $40,185 to an account in Russia.

Hong Kong Customs has taken its first successful enforcement action against copyright piracy relating to peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing activities. An unemployed local man, aged 38, was arrested on suspicion of illegally distributing copyright movies on the Internet through Bit Torrent (BT).

The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, spoke at the Legislative Council about the illegal download of copyright materials.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority wishes to alert the public to a fraudulent website with the domain name "www.barclays-eu.org". The website looks similar to the official website of Barclays Bank Plc. Barclays Bank Plc has clarified that it has no connection with the fraudulent website.