a quarterly journal from the hongkong federation of youth groups

Youth

September 2016

Volume 8 Number 3

HONG KONG

Cyber Deviance

Contents

OVERVIEW
4 Cyber deviance Between illicit and illegal

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Volume 8 Number 3

INSIGHT
7 Scams and swindlers
9

Dicky Wong Cyber Security & Technology Crime Bureau

Financial fraud and malware

Michael Leung President, HK Computer Society

11 What makes a hacker?

Francesca Bosco

13 Reaction and response

SC Leung HK Computer Emergency Response Team

YOUTH SPEAK
14 Vulnerable targets: victims online
Blackmailing Jack; Cyberbullying Tina

7-13

4-6

INSIGHT

OVERVIEW

ON THE AGENDA
Criminalizing cyberbullying
18 Loopholes in legislative framework

18-27

14-17

Stephanie Hung

ON THE AGENDA
PERSPECTIVES

YOUTH SPEAK

19 Changing the back door approach

Andrew Lau

PERSPECTIVES
21 Frontline reports from HKFYG

Wilson Chan & Ka Wu Youth Crime Prevention Centre

28-37

23 Cyber strategies: legal and illegal

TALKING POINT
36 What does Brexit mean?

25 Online games: the good, the bad and the novelty

38 From writing to reading

YOUTH WATCH
28 Online and at risk: international statistics

HKFYG
40 Books and boutiques without boundaries

CITY SPACE
32 Accessorize the athletic way

42 New titles for 2016 Special Offer

44 Youth IDEAS think tank reports
LegCo; Lifelong learning; Tourism
47 LEAD building up STEAM
49 Awards Youth Service and Youth Business

Gary Heilbronn

Hsu Siu-man Supervisor, Counselling, HKFYG

Jennifer Lam

Joy Pamnani

Jean Letterman

Cyrus Cheng

34 Leaders to Leaders Ana Maria Castro Monzn,

Felix Chan & Saida Ibrahimava

YOUTH HONG KONG

published quarterly
by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups

INTERVIEWS & FEATURES

Elaine Morgan
Ada Chau

EDITORIAL BOARD
Rosanna Wong
Elaine Morgan (Editor)
Ada Chau (Assistant Editor)
William Chung
Andy Ho
Lakshmi Jacot
Angela Ngai
Hon Advisers
Henry Poon
Veronica Pearson

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS
Stephanie Hung
Andrew Lau
Gary Heilbronn
Virginia Addison
Joy Pamnani
Felix Chan
Mindy Li
HKFYG Youth Research Centre

CIRCULATION (unaudited)
11,000-12,000 in Hong Kong,
throughout the region and overseas
VIEWS EXPRESSED are the authors and
interviewees, may come from official sources,
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
editorial board or publisher
REPRODUCTION OF CONTENTS
without written permission from the publisher
is prohibited

YOUTH WATCH
CITY SPACE

Mindy Li

TRANSLATION
Ada Chau & Angela Ngai
PHOTOGRAPHS
Acknowledged as captioned, pixabay, stock
images, or in public domain
TRADEMARKS
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registered trademarks. Youth Hong Kong is
not associated with any product or vendor
mentioned in articles.
ARTWORK, DESIGN, LAYOUT & PRINTING
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38-51
CULTURE
HKFYG

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Editorial

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

There is a dark side to using the internet and social media. Cyber deviance and cybercrime
including cyberbullying and blackmail, trolling and phishing, hacking and pornography are
not just fringe events that happen to other people. They have become mainstream and can
affect very ordinary people in their everyday lives.
As young people are the greatest consumers of technology, the risks and temptations they
face are increasing day by day so it becomes a critical challenge for us all to know how to
protect potential victims and how to punish perpetrators, especially when legislation and
legal recourse have not kept up with the growth and breadth of deviant cyber activities.
This issue of Youth Hong Kong explores the Hong Kong context of cyber deviance, looking
at prevention, awareness and education, the loopholes in the law and the impact on
victims. Experts offer suggestions on what might be changed in order to make cyber space
a less threatening and safer place, especially for young people.
What are your experiences and what do you think should and could be done? Please let us
know. Together we need to act on what is already a worrying development. Let it not get
even worse.
Dr Rosanna Wong, DBE, JP
Executive Director, HKFYG
September 2016

Overview

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Cyber deviance
between illicit and illegal
I

n Hong Kong, there is no formal definition of

cybercrime or cyber deviance but they are associated
with intimidation, extortion and fraud. When
committed online with intent to harm these activities
are classified as technology crime. Child
pornography law may come into force when mobile
phones are used to create and distribute sexual images,
otherwise known as sexting. 1 Identity theft and
illegal downloading of copyrighted media, including
films and music, are also criminal offences.

The most common forms of cyber deviance here are

hacking and cyberbullying. The latter is not a crime in
Hong Kong and many other jurisdictions. However it
can border on the criminal when it involves repeated
harassment and threats. Trolling is one of the many
forms of such bullying which can have devastating
effects. They are easy for an online bully with a vast
internet-enabled audience to achieve and difficult for
police to investigate and prosecute.
Hacking ranges from curious exploration to inquisitive
searching for weaknesses and to outright criminality. 2
Many borderline cases are not reported to police.
Other traps in Hong Kongs cyber world include
underage compensated dating via social media, 3
online auction fraud, and sextortion or naked chat
blackmail. Again, many cases go unreported and
form no part of official crime statistics. Then there is
the phenomenon of mass online naming and
shaming which is sometimes borderline illegal. In
every situation of cyber risk and danger, young people
can be both perpetrators and victims.

How common is risky behaviour

in cyberspace?
There is no breakdown of official technology crime
statistics by age group, but findings of a 2013
collaborative study by City University and the
Federation are indicative of worrying trends.4 Over
1,500 16-17 year-olds were surveyed in this study. They
were secondary or tertiary students and included
marginalized youth-at-risk. Findings revealed that
cybercrimes are not only committed by those on
societys margins. On the contrary, nearly three-quarters
of all respondents admitted to having illegally
downloaded music and software. More than a third had
faked their identity on social media, a third had traded
pornographic material on the internet and over a fifth
had stolen virtual money and other online game
paraphernalia.

These findings are reflected in other countries. In

Australia, for example, a survey of over 2,000
respondents found that almost half had sent a sexual
picture or video of themselves to another party, while
two-thirds had received a sexual image. 13-15 year-olds
in particular were likely to receive such images.5 In
Britain, a 2016 survey of teenagers shows that an
alarming 10% would be impressed if a friend hacked
into an air traffic control system even if it had
disastrous consequences and some 35% would admire
anyone who managed to hack into a bank website.6
These snapshots are just an indication of worldwide trends.

What should parents do?

Striking a balance between allowing free exploration and
providing appropriate oversight is a real challenge, especially
as it appears that youth may have a false sense of immunity
and anonymity when they are online. Parents concerns are
reflected in a 2016 Pew Research Center survey. It finds
that a wide range of parental monitoring of 13-17 year-olds
takes place.7 See Figure 1.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wocintechchat/25392428253/

Even more worrying is evidence of online drug-buying,

web-based triad activity, soliciting for paid sex, and
widespread exchange on social media of sexually explicit
photos and videos by youth.

Figure 1 Parental checks on 13-17 year-olds online and smartphone use

Activities monitored

by percentage of parents

Proactive controls used

by percentage of parents

Websites visited
Social media profiles
Messages and phone calls

Parental controls of online activity

Parental restrictions of smartphone use
Location tools on smartphones

61%
60%
48%

39%
16%
16%

Source pewinternet.org/2016/01/07/parents-teens-and-digital-monitoring

by Todd Mecklem flickr.com/photos/toddmecklem/3474780511/

The way forward

Cyber activity will always be a concern for parents and
educators. New legislation for juvenile cybercrime is on
the drawing board but there are valid concerns about
infringements of freedom of speech and in most cases of
youth involvement the argument comes back to the
responsibilities shouldered by parents.

However, the survey also shows that parents are less

likely to use technology-based tools to block or track
their teenagers online activities, a finding that is
consistent with past Pew surveys. Nevertheless, the
vast majority of parents try to take a proactive
approach and 94% say they talk to teenage children
about the difference between unacceptable and
appropriate online behaviour.
The reality is that young people do not always tell their
parents what they are doing. A survey conducted for the
European Schoolnet found that 44% of children aged
8-16 hide potentially dangerous online activity from
their parents. This figure rises to 51% for 14-16
year-olds. Furthermore, up to 70% of parents whose
children successfully hide what they do online do not
know about the inappropriate content viewed, nor
about the interactions with inappropriate people or the
incidents of cyberbullying that take place.8

For youth at risk of cyber deviance, the Federation and the

Hong Kong Police Force have community crime
prevention projects such as Project iSmart and Project R.9
These use education and early intervention which aim to
prevent youth falling into cyber traps, and counselling
for victims and suspects.10 Parents and teachers worries
may also be lessened if they use the same online tools and
platforms as their children, becoming familiar with the
same technology, social media and devices that youth
favour. Otherwise, staying alert and aware, and keeping
traditional channels of communication open are the most
reliable safeguards, as well as raising the alarm when
action is really needed.

16
17

Further reading and other sources

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Crofts, T & Lee, M 2013.Sexting: children and child pornography. Sydney Law Review 35(1): 85106, 2013.
Richet, Jean-Loup. From young hackers to crackers. International Journal of Technology and Human Interaction, 9(3), 53-62, 2013.
scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1983136/underage-girls-rape-and-handbags-inside-murky-world-hong
HKFYG and City University of Hong Kong. Cyber-crime and cyber deviance among adolescents in Hong Kong (in Chinese) July 2013. Synopsis quoted in Alarm
over youth cybercrime South China Morning Post, 12 July 2013. scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1280501/alarm-over-youth-cyber-crime
Lee, M, et al. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, December 2015. aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/501-520/tandi508.html
mirror.co.uk/tech/teenage-cybercrime-wave-sweeps-britain-7332893
pewinternet.org/2016/01/07/parents-teens-and-digital-monitoring
kaspersky.com/about/news/product/2016/One-in-Two-Children-Hide-Risky-Online-Behavior-from-Parents-Kaspersky-Lab-Research
nfo.gov.hk/gia/general/201312/23/P201312230575.htm
ycpc.hkfyg.org.hk/

Insight

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Scams and swindlers

Youth are most susceptible to online deception and blackmail, says
Detective Inspector Dicky Wong of the Cyber Security and Technology
Crime Bureau. While education is the key to prevention, adult
stakeholders can be the hardest to convince.
How is cybercrime defined in Hong Kong?
In Hong Kong these crimes are defined according to
classification used in legislation. They involve technology,
whether on a computer, a smartphone or any other device.
Definitions vary according to different jurisdictions.

If they are playing an online game with somebody who

pretends to have virtual weapons to sell, a youngster who
wants to buy gets tricked into depositing money into a
criminals bank account. They never get their desired
weapon. Another type of fraud is via e-auction and online
shopping websites where crooks pretend to be selling
Could you give some examples of typical recent cases?
desirable goods cheaply. Their victims make payment but
Naked chat blackmail or sextortion is one of the technology the goods are never delivered, just as in the online game
deception cases.
crimes that we see most often involving young people.
Originally, victims were usually male but now the trend is
How easy is it to commit a cybercrime?
for just as many victims to be female. The majority of
Its becoming increasingly easy. Take illegal hacking. We
victims and suspects are between 25 and 35 years old.
call it unauthorized access to computers with the intention
Have there been many convictions?
to commit an offence. This is another category with
significant youth involvement. An example is the DDoS1
Sad to say, no. The suspects usually live outside Hong
attack against the Hong Kong government during the
Kong, making prosecution difficult. It appears that such
2014 Occupy Central Movement. The tools needed for
crooks have identified a certain vulnerability in young
this kind of DDoS attack, where hackers send large
Hong Kong people, many of whom use a lot of social
amounts of traffic to a target computer, causing slow
media.
responses or a breakdown in the system, are easy to find
How does the crime scenario begin?
on the internet and they are free.
It usually starts with a seemingly genuine online
conversation. First, the aim of blackmailers is to develop
trust. They usually use seductive photos on social media to
lure the victim. Then the victim loads his or her
racy-looking photos in return. With the victim hooked,
blackmail begins.
So the perpetrators are clever?
Yes certainly. They can analyze their victims wants and
needs from online conversations. They are good actors too.
Still, to me it seems very odd that people should be so
susceptible to such a deception, but you would be surprised
how many people fall into these traps. We see new cases of
naked chat blackmail every day.
Which other crimes often involve youth?
Youth are often a target of deception through online games.
As these have become more sophisticated in recent years so
adults have also become targets too but young people are
the most common victims. They have more energy, more
time to play, they are early adopters of new technology and
always looking for something new. While they learn easily
and want to explore, they can also be deceived easily.
1 DDoS: DistributedDenial of Service

How do the police go about detecting cybercrime?

We use the combination of technology and police officers
investigation skill set. Our Technology Crime Division
includes investigation and forensic teams. The Cyber
Security Division provides proactive cyber security
protection to critical infrastructure in Hong Kong around
the clock, and the Intelligence and Support Division
gathers illegal activity intelligence on the internet related to
Hong Kong.
With which overseas law enforcement or intelligence
agencies does the Hong Kong Police cooperate?
The Hong Kong Police Force actively collaborates with
private and public bodies. As cross-border crime is
common, we have developed a mature collaboration
channel with overseas law enforcement agencies. On a
global scale Hong Kong is average in terms of cyber risk
according to various research reports published by cyber
security vendors.
What kind of penalties are there for convictions?
The penalty depends on the charge being laid. One recent case
involved a young hacker who launched a DDoS attack against
a bank. He claimed that his act was not intentional and the
penalty was a fine. There was no custodial sentence.

The Hong Kong Police Force set up the new Cyber

Security and Technology Crime Bureau in 2015 to
prevent and combat the rise in cybercrime and to
respond to cyber security threats.

How are you trying to prevent cybercrime?

Largely through education and raising awareness. If the
victim is young, we speak to their parents to try to find out
whats going wrong. Often it turns out that the child is
emotionally neglected and is at risk because they are seeking
the attention online that they fail to find at home. We also
have a proactive approach with schools where we give talks
and seminars. We think education is one of the important
prevention methods and we also have a public awareness
programme which included a Cyber Security Summit 2016
this year.
Should there be widespread concern?
Yes. The web is attractive and easily accessible to most
young people today. Almost everything they do, they do
online. Our task is not only to educate young people but
also their teachers and parents. Adults could be harder to
teach as they think they already know it all so it is an uphill
task for us to reach them.
Year

Technology crime cases in Hong Kong

2014

6,778

2015

6,862

2013

5,133

2012

3,015

2011

2,206

2010

1,643

2009

1,506

Source infosec.gov.hk/english/crime/statistics.html

Types of
crime

Social Media
Deception
Blackmail
("naked chat")

Number of
cases 2015

Financial loss
(HK$ million)

1,422

60

1,098

3.5

Source police.gov.hk/ppp_en/01_about_us/cp_ye.html

Insight

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Financial fraud and malware

In the face of mounting financial cybercrime, the need for security has
become acute. Michael Leung, President of the Hong Kong Computer
Society and Chief Information & Operations Officer at China CITIC
Bank International, gives advice and insight.
I dont think so, says Michael Leung. It depends on the
market and on peer pressure. In fact, he points out that some
mobile phones are deliberately made less secure by
jailbreaking or rooting, for instance in mainland China.3
If everyone elses phone has been rooted in order to access
certain contents, you will be thought somewhat abnormal not
to follow suit. Whether you follow conventional rules on
cybersecurity depends on the local culture.

H
ong Kong people of all ages are very receptive to new
technology but new weaknesses, especially in mobile
devices, are revealed regularly. These are causing a rise in
online personal banking fraud and Michael Leung says the
risks mean we all need to stay vigilant.Young people know
about the traps but I think they are less risk-averse than the
older generation. They have less to lose.
Not only should we be alert, we also need to be aware of the
extent of cybercrime and the prevalence of malware.
According to IBMs security team, cybercrime will become
a US$2.1 trillion problem by 2019. The sophistication of
threats to mobile devices is set to escalate, as are incidents of
credit card fraud, even with Chip-and-PIN security measures.1

A common weak spot in bank cybersecurity is lack of care

with passwords. The most common password around the
world is still 123456 so this is one area where avoidance
tactics can easily be improved.4 Even though nobody likes
cumbersome passwords, the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority now expects multilevel, two-factor authentication
(2FA) and strong passwords. However, attackers may use
overlay malware apps designed to steal credentials such as
usernames and passwords on mobile phones. Inevitably,
financial institutions have a tough time staying ahead.
There is always a trade-off between convenience and risk
in bank cybersecurity and we recommend a carrot and
stick strategy with customers to overcome resistance to new
security measures, Michael Leung says. Banks offer
incentives such as coupons and discounts as carrots to
persuade customers to use more secure 2FA authentication.
The stick is no compensation after a security breach: the
penalty for failure to use recommended avoidance measures.

What can be done to avoid attacks? Some advice for

keeping mobile devices safe is complex, whereas simple tips
from the Hong Kong Cyber Security Information Portal
include turning off location services and disabling
connections to any unknown/unsecure WiFi networks.2
However, this makes some applications dysfunctional so do
people follow any of this advice?

Realizing that criminals take advantage of users trust in

bank applications in order to do this, banks warn customers
not to open links or attachments to suspicious-looking
e-mail to avoid their accounts being hacked. There is a
constant risk of exposure and it is important to know when
to raise the alarm.
Where vulnerable financial information is concerned, Michael
Leung recommends reporting incidents directly to the bank
concerned. Underground criminals use phishing and social
engineering to trick people into giving away confidential
information. They design pop-up windows that have the look
and feel of real bank applications and online payment platforms.
Many people consider themselves too unimportant to have their
mobile phones hacked into, but they should be aware that they
could be used simply as scapegoats for bigger crimes.
He cites the recent case of small investors accounts being
manipulated by attackers. They used the accounts to buy
cheap Hong Kong stocks then artificially boosted prices
before shorting the market and selling off shares in a tactic
known as pump-and-dump.5 Fraudsters also make use of
chat rooms, posts on bulletin boards, blogs and spam email
to induce investors to buy stocks in schemes such as these.
Are there any innovations on the drawing board to replace
passwords? Michael Leung tells us that CITIC bank was the
first in Hong Kong to use biometrics. We introduced
Touch Banking with fingerprinting, no password required,
and we are now looking at facial and voice recognition. We
try to make it simple for mobile users, but this often means
some compromise: the maximum amount per e-Wallet
top-up is HK$3,000, for example.
He says the cybersecurity field is wide open to innovators and
investors and thinks that events like the Cyber Security
Competition6 help raise awareness of the need for

self-protection. More such contests would be a good thing.

There are many young people with creative and ingenious ideas,
but very few that I know of are innovating in cybersecurity.
Perhaps they find it too specialized and technical?
When asked about the next big thing in cyber threats, his
advice is Always look for the weakest link. Recalling recent
incidents of jackpotting at ATMs in Taiwan and Thailand,
he says an antiquated voice recording server overseas was
targeted by hackers. The Internet of Things is also at risk given
the extent of digital data for everything from medical records to
public transport. Threats are everywhere. Think about the
potential threat of drones. They can be bought for a few
hundred dollars. Remote controls can be hacked. Drones can
be hijacked and then they can carry a payload anywhere a
terrorist wants. Big data is another area of huge potential risk
given the analytical tools available. Steal the data first, simply
making a copy, and then use data mining to discover a
malicious way to use it.
Is there an aide memoire for avoiding cybersecurity risks?
Michael Leung tells us to remember the four As:

Aware: be wary of security risks

Alert: watch out for strange activity on your mobile device
Avoid: dont make silly mistakes with passwords and other
vulnerable information

Alarm: if trouble happens, take action and raise the alarm

123456

by Dan Tentler flic.kr/p/8pxH6P

Further reading

10

1.securityintelligence.com/2016-cybercrime-reloaded-our-predictions-forthe-year-ahead/
2. cybersecurity.hk/en/about.php
3.trustedreviews.com/opinions/what-is-jailbreaking-android-ios-exploitsexplained
4.polyu.edu.hk/its/general-information/newsletter/58-year-2014/june-14/187top-10-most-commonly-used-and-worst-passwords-are-you-using123456-as-password
5.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1982323/crooked-pumpand-dump-trades-double-hk53m-hong-kong
6. hkcybersecuritycompetition2016.net/en/

Insight

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

What makes a hacker?

Profiles of hackers have changed
over time. Once thought of as
shy youth with inquisitive
minds, they are now more likely
to be considered criminals, but
according to Francesca Bosco
of the UN Interregional Crime
and Justice Research Institute,
many start early in life.

magine the stereotypical hacker: a shy teenage boy who

spends hours hunched over a desk-top in his darkened
room. Today, that profile has changed. Hackers are often
considered criminals or potential criminals. Nevertheless,
according to a 2010 United Nations report, 60% of them
start hacking when aged 10-15 and 30% of all hackers are
aged 10-20.1
Updating this scenario, Francesca Bosco says that 26-35
year-olds have increasingly become involved in serious
digital criminal activity. She says that a service-based
industry has grown out of hacking. Miscreants are usually
very creative and we should be the same when it comes to
understanding possible future scenarios. It is important to
try to understand their psychology and the factors that draw
young people into the world of cybercrime, seeing their
activities not only from a technical point of view but also
from the human angle, says Ms Bosco.
Pop culture and peer recognition are considered to be
significant factors. Another is the emergence of underground
markets in the deep web offering free, easily accessible
hacker tools combined with easy access to financial service
websites and areas normally denied to youth in the real
world. The fourth factor that drives young hackers is usually
either greed or curiosity of a malicious kind.

Hacker profiles
White Hats are self-styled vigilantes seeking out flaws in IT
systems and software and helping to solve them for the
common good. They are often security researchers who, when
they discover a vulnerability in software, notify the vendor so
that the hole can be patched.
Black Hats are criminals who find or develop software
weaknesses and methods to break into computers or
networks and steal data including passwords, email,
intellectual property, credit card details and bank account
credentials. They also sell information to other criminals.
Grey Hats fall into the middle ground between the other
categories. They sell or disclose software and system
vulnerabilities to governments which then use those security
flaws to hack into the systems of adversaries or criminal
suspects.
Script kiddies or skiddies are unskilled hackers who
vandalize websites for the thrill of it and to impress their
friends. They use scripts or programmes available in the dark
web to attack computer systems and networks and deface
websites. It is generally assumed that script kiddies are
juveniles but the term does not relate to the actual age of the
participant.
Sources
wired.com/2016/04/hacker-lexicon-white-hat-gray-hat-black-hat-en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Script_kiddie
wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_hacker

11

Some notorious young hackers

1979 Kevin Mitnick at the age of 16, gained unauthorized
access to a computer network - a crime he was eventually
convicted of in 1988.
1991 Julian Assenge of Wikileaks, hacked into several
high profile targets before of being caught while hacking
into Nortel at the age of 20.
1998 Ehud Tenenbaum, aged 19, broke into the
computer systems of NASA, the US and Israeli military,
and several US and Israeli universities.

Where cyber security is concerned Ms Bosco says, The

human factor is said to be weakest link in the security
chain. This is true for both victims and attackers. The
paradigm we originally had for information security is based
on a world that doesnt exist anymore. We need to change
this paradigm and teach people a new mindset. Thats the
hardest but the most interesting challenge we are facing.
What has been done in response to this challenge? Britain
and the US have created campaigns for parents, teachers
and students as well as contests for young hackers.2 Contest
entrants complete tasks such as analyzing a hard drive to
find evidence to convict criminals or defending a network
from attacks. The aim is to encourage them to consider
careers in internet security instead of criminality.3
A colleague of Francesca Bosco, Andrew Dornbierer,
explains that underlying these responses is the conviction
that Young people need to be taught the legal and ethical
rules of the internet, as well as how to use the internet
responsibly. Currently, most children do not view
cybercrime in the same light as crime in the physical world
and they need to understand that illegal actions online carry
real consequences and cause large scale emotional and
financial costs to victims. 4

2000 Michael Calce, aged 14, launched a series of

denial-of-service attacks against large commercial
websites, including Yahoo!, Fifa.com, Amazon.com, Dell,
eBay and CNN.
2002 Gary McKinnon, aged 36, was accused of the
biggest military computer hack of all time but he
escaped extradition from Britain to the US on the grounds
of autism.
2013 Edward Snowden, aged 30, became a household
name when he exposed NASAs spying programme which
targeted regular Americans.
Sources and further reading

Bosco, F. Cybercrime is getting organized. Presentation, NCSC Conference, 2013.

Bosco, F. Addressing the Challenges of Youth Cybercrime & Online Malfeasance.
izm.gov.lv/images/DGmeeting/Riga-Youth-Cybercrime-2.pdf
Bosco, F. Interview. honeynet.org/node/1252
1. Chiesa, R, Ducci, S & Ciappi, S. Profiling Hackers: the science of criminal
profiling as applied to the world of hacking. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group,
2010.unicri.it/special_topics/securing_cyberspace/current_activities/hackers_
profiling/
2. US Department of Justice. Cyberethics for Teachers
justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/rules/lessonplan1.htm
3. UK National Crime agency NCA Choices Lesson Plan.cybersecuritychallenge.
org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Lesson-Plan.pdf
4. f3magazine.unicri.it/?p=88
5. pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/

When 24% of teens go online almost constantly,5 and

13-24 year-olds spend 75% longer online than those aged
over 45, this message is worth taking very seriously.

Francesca Bosco
10-15
10-20Francesca

Francesca Bosco kindly gave permission to use extracts

from her work in this article.

12

Insight

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Reaction and response

2

SC Leung of the Asia-Pacific Advisory Council (ISC) , talks about what

and when young people should learn about cyber security and the way
cyber criminals think.
How aware do you think youth are today about
cyber deviance?
They are digital natives, born when the internet was
available and aware of many of its capabilities. However,
their security awareness varies. Some may know nothing
about malware, online privacy or social engineering attacks.
How should lessons about cybersecurity be given and
by whom?
Cybersecurity must be integrated into general safety
education, teaching kids in the early years about the need
for safety online for survival purposes. Later, when they
have grown up, you can teach them online security and
privacy, how to tackle online bullying and what they should
know about cyber ethics.
What are the most important rules for avoiding common
cybersecurity risks?
Observing patch security and software updates for apps and
vulnerable systems is very important as well as the human
equivalent: awareness of the need for security.

Should large organizations offer mentoring for young

employees with hacker-like behaviour in the workplace?
It should be done with care. It is like teaching kids karate. It
needs to be accompanied by ethical education. We must
make sure the kids are mature enough to manage the skills
they learn.
What should young people know about the risks of
breaking ethical and legal rules on internet use?
We must teach young people the impact and consequence
of hacking, including the risks of collateral damage.
What do you think might be the next big thing in tools
for cybersecurity?
Anonymity is the next big thing in tools for cybersecurity
because people are afraid of espionage by nation states.

Some experts say that the only way to understand cyber

risks is to think like a hacker. Do you think that
ethical hacking should be part of general education?
A demonstration of offensive cyber security skills is fine
once young people have learned about online safety but
teaching them how to go on the offensive needs careful
handling. Such lessons should be delivered only to mature,
stable people.

13

Youth speak

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Vulnerable targets
victims online
Jack got involved in naked chat blackmail or sextortion.
Tina has been relentlessly cyberbullied by an ex-boyfriend.
How did their problems start and where will they end?
Jack: predators prey

Jack, a 24 year-old university student, has never really

had a successful relationship with a girl though he has
good schoolmates. When it comes to girls he prefers
social media. Ive been finding friends and meeting girls
online since I was 18. Usually we just talk. One asked if
I wanted to pay for sex. I was looking for love, real love,
but Ive never found it.
About a year ago, a girl Jack met online sent him a
message on Facebook. I trusted her at
that stage and was happy to chat.
I had no idea how she would
cheat me. The girl then
posted sexy photos online. Jack
assumed they were real.
A couple of days later she asked if I
wanted to meet for lunch. She looked great
in those photos so of course I said yes. Then it
happened. She asked me to post naked photos of
myself and said she would only meet me if I did.
I should have known I was getting into trouble
but it was so tempting.
Sexually explicit, exploitable images Jack
uploaded the photos she wanted, but that wasnt
enough. She wanted a really compromising
video as well. Id never done naked chat before.
I must have seemed so naive but at the time it
seemed harmless. I hesitated but in the end I did
what she wanted.
The very next day the girl started
demanding money. She said unless I sent
HK$50,000 to her foreign bank account shed
send my photos to all my friends. She said she
had a screenshot of my Facebook friends and
so Id better pay up.

14

Jack never met the girl or talked to her on the phone.

Ive no idea what she really sounded like. Maybe she
never really existed. My only impressions came online.
Exchanging sexts, damaging lives Jack was left
worrying for weeks. I imagined my friends looking at
those pictures of me. I felt so ashamed. I couldnt bring
myself to ask them. But time passed and they said
nothing. Eventually I plucked up courage and asked, had
they seen any strange messages from strange people?
They hadnt. What a relief.

by Jull flickr.com/photos/julishannon/2142768708/

I went straight to the police. I couldnt pay that kind of

money. They told me to block her on Facebook, but that
was all. After that, the messages just stopped.

Some of Jacks best friends told him to stop making

friends online. But I still do. There are fewer blocks
online. We can talk about ourselves more easily, but I
would never get tricked like that again. I hesitate before
trusting anyone. Ive set boundaries and changed my
privacy settings. Nobody can reach my friend list easily
any more.
When asked about real-life girlfriends, Jack described
one. I was 20 at the time and she was older than me.
I was still a student and she was working. We lasted
just two months. In the end we split up. We were too
unalike. Also, I dont want to be like one of those
Guanyin soldiers* (), those men who are
subservient, just waiting all the time at the beck and
call of pretty women. I dont want to be made a fool
of again.

Jacks social worker says he is good-hearted but an

emotionally needy guy, frustrated about relationships. He
considers himself ugly but hes not, neither is he stupid. He
lacks self-esteem but has manystrengths and should
appreciatehimself more while being more aware of the risks
of the cyber world andthe need for self-protection.

24Jack

Project iSmart

The victims in the stories on pages 14-17 are participants

in Project iSmart, a collaboration of the Hong Kong Police
Force and the HKFYG Youth Crime Prevention Centre.
More details ycpc.hkfyg.org.hk/

Jack
Jack
Jack

Note Names have been changed to protect identities.

*Guanyin soldiers refers to boys who are being absolutely obedient to their "Guanyin," or goddess,
willing to do anything for her to win her heart, ready to sacrifice time, effort and money to please her.

15

Tina: ex-boyfriend bully

Tina, a Secondary 6 student, broke up with her boyfriend
after two years of rows. He was always a bit crazy but then
he became furious.
First, the boy followed her home and attacked her father.
He bit him viciously and managed to break a couple of
ribs before throwing paint at the front door.
We called the police. The CID are
investigating, says Tina, but it happened
months ago.

by beryl_snw flickr.com/photos/beryl_snw/12496710745/

Revenge porn It didnt stop there. The

ex-boyfriend wanted revenge. He tried
many strategies to try to get Tina back,
deplorable, aggressive strategies, Tinas
first experience of cyberbullying. She
paid little attention to her ex-boyfriends
nasty messages and thought he would
never actually do what he threatened.

16

Ever since the assault on her father, Tina has been in

contact with her HKFYG social worker. They told me
that my only option was to go to the police. During the
interview they seemed sceptical, especially when I said
that the boy had taken photos of me skimpily dressed
without my knowing. They also kept asking me whether
other people could have those photos too.

Sinister things started happening. On her Instagram

account, photos disappeared and were replaced by others
in sexy underwear. He must have taken those photos
without telling me. Then I remembered how he had kept
asking for my social media password when we were
dating, but she never expected him to use it for such
a vile purpose.
Power play and humiliation He kept calling and
threatening. I tried to stop him by blocking his phone
number. That didnt work for long. He changed his SIM
card, called me from a different number and threatened
me again. Come back to me or all your friends will see
these photos.
Of course I kept trying to delete them. Then he
uploaded them again, and so it went on, again and again.
He tried to change my Instagram password too but I
managed to change it first so at least my own account is
secure. Then he tried a new trick. He created many
different fake accounts, all in my name. I couldnt access
them because I didnt know the passwords.
Evidence and investigation I reported the problem to
Instagram but got nowhere. My message was redirected
to a webpage where I had to fill in a lot of information
but when they eventually got back to me they said they
could do nothing because the accounts were not in my
name.
Tina got a new phone number to try to deflect the boys
threats. Then her friends started to notice strange things
going on. The boy even tried calling them to get Tinas
new number. I was so embarrassed, but my friends
never let me down. Now, one of them always walks
home with me from school.

She made a written statement. The police told her the

boy was under investigation because of the attack on
her father. They had visited his home, taken his
computer and mobile phone, but they still had no
conclusive evidence.
One day, the boy appeared and tried to stop her on the
street. Just after it happened, I saw a policeman. Maybe
it means they are watching him. Waiting for him to
make a wrong move. Maybe one day there will be
enough evidence for them to arrest him.
Tina wants the boy punished. She wants a probation
order placed on him and his access to the internet
blocked. But I know there is no such law and so there
will be no such punishment, for now.
The social workers who have been helping Tina
explained that the absence of laws against cyberbullying
in Hong Kong means that unless a suspect is found guilty
of a criminal offence such as child pornography, slander
or intimidation they cannot prosecute. The social workers
also say that special training and specialized investigative
skills would be needed to handle cases like this.

Tina
Tina
TinaTina

TinaTinaTina
Tina

17

On the agenda

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Criminalizing cyberbullying
In the absence of legislation to govern cyberbullying, discussion about possible
avenues of advance includes a Model Statute for Hong Kong schools and an
offence based on anti-stalking law say two young lawyers.

Loopholes in legislative framework by Stephanie Hung

Cyberbullying in Hong Kong is only sometimes covered by criminal or civil sanctions and this
means that cases often slip through the gaps. One vivid example is that of the 11 year-old Hong
Kong English Schools Foundation schoolgirl. Her father claimed she was a target of cyberbullying,
that her email account had been accessed illegitimately and that the schools staff were negligent
and unwilling to make changes to guarantee child safety.1 The effects on the child were
devastating. She suffered nightmares and panic attacks. Worst of all, she will be made to relive
horrible memories in court, notwithstanding the possibility of no redress.
Why might redress not be given? The current legislative framework is filled with loopholes. For
instance, if a cyberbully sends messages through the internet, he or she is not criminally liable
under section 20 of the Summary Offences Ordinance (Cap 228) as this only provides protection
against cyberbullies who use telegraph, telephone and wireless telegraphy. Similarly, the
Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (Cap 593) does not address sending offensive,
indecent or obscene content in electronic messages either.2 To make matters worse, these
loopholes cannot be fixed by judges and legislative reform may take time.
But all is not bleak. We can take the initiative ourselves. In the UK, it is a statutory duty of
schools to implement anti-bullying policies.3 Schools in Hong Kong should also work with
parents, teachers, students, law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders to implement a
school policy4 with the following objectives:
1. To include a strong definition of cyberbullying If it is too
broad or vague it could cause confusion and might
contradict the principle of free speech.
2. To address off-campus behaviour Cyberbullies may use devices
not owned by the school or located outside school premises.
3. To include requirements for teachers, students and parents to
have regular training These would publicize the policy, invite
reports of incidents of cyberbullying and confirm that
cyberbullying is inappropriate conduct and a serious concern.
4. To set out clear reporting and investigation procedures Victims
will then know it is safe and effective to report incidents.
5. To establish consequences Penalties to deter potential
cyberbullies from offending or re-offending and to punish
their inappropriate behaviour must be known.
6. To provide counselling The effects of
cyberbullying often have long-lasting effects.
7. To gather statistics Schools can then evaluate the
success of their policies and try to improve them.
18

Although the internet may be abused, it also brings many benefits to society
and the school environment and schools should point this out.5 After all,
they are not only supposed to protect their students. They are also there to
inform, inspire and encourage. By fostering a positive environment at
school, and through healthy discussions and participation, more ways of
building a supportive system will become evident, thus helping students
grow and become responsible citizens.
Mui Thomas, a cyberbullying survivor and fighter, has set up a Facebook
page to let others suffering the crippling internet disease know theyre not
alone. The internet is a double-edged sword. I experienced so much hate
through it, but the support Ive received from strangers across the world is
amazingly empowering.6

StephanieAndrew
Stephanie

Stephanie Hung, a pupil-barrister, is a strong

believer in building a positive Hong Kong and a
compassionate society. She wrote about
cyberbullying for the 2015 Law Reform
Commission Essay Competition and was among
the five finalists.

Changing the back door approach by Andrew Lau

An electoral officer recently had his full personal details published on Facebook after

disqualifying a localist candidate from running in the 2016 Legislative Council election.
He was then subject to abusive posts which included deplorable suggestions about his
family. A barrister, calling the messages menacing not mere curses, said the suspect
could be prosecuted for intimidation and jailed for up to five years. If it were a youth,
lacking social experience, who only tried to make a joke, he or she could still be sued for
access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent, for which the maximum penalty is
also five years in jail.1

According to the Privacy Commissioner, this is an example of one of many recent

cyberbullying incidents. A five-fold rise in such cases took place in Hong Kong from 2013
to 2014 and yet there is currently no specific legislation to govern cyberbullying.2 Most
common law jurisdictions such as the UK use existing anti-stalking offences because
cyberbullying shares many characteristics with stalking, which is defined as a course of
conduct amounting to harassment of another.
Cases of cyberbullying may also include criminal intimidation or blackmail, but invoking
these offences only provides a backdoor approach to reach cyberbullies. The former would
be inapplicable if a cyberbully harasses by merely sending unwanted messages without
making any threats, while the latter would be useless if the cyberbullys demand were not
made with a view to gain or with the intent to cause loss.
19

Since cyberbullying cases sometimes exhibit unique features, it

would not be prudent to keep stretching old laws to fit new
situations. Even if reform were carried out it might not deter the
majority of cyberbullies, many of whom are youths.3 This can be
seen from the failure of young people in Australia and Canada to
appreciate their potential for attracting criminal liability, despite
legislation enacted there.
Nevertheless, by imposing sanctions the law can change peoples
minds about what is right and wrong and, in time, influence
social norms, as evidenced by bans on corporal punishment in
Sweden and New Zealand.4 It is therefore recommended that
Hong Kong adopt the approach set out as follows.5
1. The new offence should be based on a repeated course
of conduct which causes a person to reasonably fear for
his own safety, thus filtering out complaints from
hypersensitive individuals.6
2. The legislation should stipulate an exhaustive list of
prohibited acts to avoid unnecessary challenges on the
grounds of vagueness or overbroad terms.
3. The prosecution should bear the additional burden of
proving mens rea, showing that the cyberbully has acted
either with the intention of causing a person to fear for
his or her safety, or has been reckless as to whether his
conduct might cause such fear.
4. A catchall defence should be included as the line
between a legitimate expression of opinion and seriously
threatening speech is not always easily distinguishable.
Enacting such anti-cyberbullying legislation can be a way
forward, but to withstand constitutional scrutiny there may
be a relatively high threshold for prosecution, thus many
incidents could be excluded. For this reason, educational
outreach needs to continue, especially at the primary and
secondary school levels. These can inculcate and encourage
safe online habits in youth.
Sources

Andrew Lau, a PCLL student at

the Chinese University of Hong
Kong, has worked as a news
reporter/anchor for TVB. He was
another of the five finalists in the
2015 Law Reform Commission
Essay Competition.

Andrew

Stephanie Hung
1. Chu, J & Mok, D.Top economist from exclusive bank forced to change Hong Kong schools over daughters bullying: claims HK$500,000 spent in ordeal. South China Morning Post,
25 November 2015. scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1883192/costly-experience-parents-girl-who-changed-hong-kong
2. HKSAR v Chan Yau Hei [2014] 17 HKCFAR 110 at 91
3. Von Mares, N and Petermann, F. Cyberbullying: An increasing challenge for schools. School Psychology International 33(5) pp.467476, 2012.
4. Anti-Defamation League. Cyberbullying prevention law: An ADL model statute. 2012. adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/ADL-Cyberbullying-Prevention-Law-Model-Statute.pdf
5. Patchin, JW & and Hinduja, S. Bullying Today: Bullet points and best practices. California: Corwin, 2016.
6. Yuet, Yu. Girl behind the face tackles cyber bullies. South China Morning Post, 13 June 2016.
scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1974496/girl-behind-face-tackles-cyber-bullies#comments
Andrew Lau
1. Un, P. Sick online attacks on poll officer condemned. The Standard 2 August 2016.
2. Cyber-bullying (tracking down personal data) May Violate the Privacy Ordinance, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong, 1 August 2016.
pcpd.org.hk/english/news_events/media_statements/press_20160801.html
3. Paul, S et al. Investigating legal aspects of cyberbullying. Psicothema, 24(4) 40, 2012.
4. Campbell, M et al. A schools duty does this include cyberbullying? ANZTLE, 13(2), 21, 2008
5. The proposed offence is based vis--vis on the Centre for Comparative and Public Laws findings. See Centre for Comparative and Public Law, Study on the
Experience of Overseas Jurisdictions in Implementing Anti-Stalking Legislation, 2013.
6. Langos, C. Cyberbullying: The Challenge to Define. CyberPsychology, Behavior & Social Networking, 15 (6) 285, 2012.

20

Perspectives

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Frontline report
HKFYG Youth Crime Prevention Centre staff, Wilson Chan and Ka Wu,
share reports of cybercrime. The cases are from projects run by the Centre with
the Hong Kong Police Force.

Imoney.
ts difficult to stereotype cyber-deviants. Some are clever students. Others are pimps, or girls in need of easy
They can be hackers or triads or just youngsters without a moral compass. Some find themselves
unwittingly on the margins of legitimate behaviour while others deliberately flout the law.

Nini is a 17 year-old secondary school student

with a good academic record. It was a real shock for her

middle-class parents and teachers when she was caught
hacking into the schools computers.

That night, feeling proud of herself, she emailed the files

to her best friends. They were impressed, but when she
got to school the next day she found that the data breach
had been detected by the intranets security software and
she had been identified as the culprit. The police were
called. She was found guilty of access to a computer with
dishonest intent.
She claimed that she knew she had broken school rules
but did not know she had broken the law. She said she
wasnt aware of the serious consequences of hacking into
the school system, that she didnt expect to be found
out, and that even if she were discovered by the school
she believed they would never report her to the police.
Instead, she found herself cautioned and placed on the
Police Superintendents Discretion Scheme.*
Nini has learnt her lesson and regrets what she did, but
shes still interested in IT and programming. Although
she has no concrete career plans yet, she wants to study
computer science at university. Under suitable
mentorship, we think perhaps her skills might be put to
good use as an employee in a big corporation. She
understands hacking but has a clearer idea of whats legal
now. That can be valuable in a world where cyber
security is in short supply.
* Information about the Police Superintendent's Discretion Scheme at police.gov.hk/ppp_en/13_faqs/faq_cri.html#q2

by Hldrmn flickr.com/photos/halderman/7349691184/

One day after class, she found herself alone in the

computer lab, finishing off an assignment. She was
bored and started playing around. She knew about
hacking tools and had always been good at IT so it
wasnt hard to get access to the intranet system. Ill just
see if I can find the exam papers ... she thought to
herself. It was quick, easy and exciting. Without a
second thought about whether it was legal, she
downloaded the files, saved them on a thumb stick and
walked out.

21

Dave is a rather inexperienced 20 year-old

who used Skout, a dating app, to meet girls. He had a
nasty surprise when he found himself trapped in a
three-way compensating dating scam.

He really liked the look of one of the girls he met online

and since his sex life had been less than satisfactory he
couldnt resist asking for a paid sex date. He offered
HK$1,500 and she accepted. They exchanged mobile
numbers and arranged to meet.
Worrying a bit about the girls age, Dave set out by taxi
for the rendezvous. On the way, he looked at the girls
photo on WhatsApp again. He admitted to himself that
she looked younger than 18. But was she underage?
It was as if somebody was reading his mind. The phone
rang. He was already close to the meeting point. The
caller said he was responsible for the girl and that Dave
would have to prove that he was not a policeman on an
undercover operation. The caller told him to send his ID
card photo on WhatsApp and to pay a guarantee of
HK$2,000; if not, the date was off.
Dave paid the taxi fare and got out at the nearest
convenience store. He made the online payment by
Alipay, as he was told to do, but he already felt trapped.
Then the caller started sending WhatsApp messages. He
said he was a triad. He demanded more money and
threatened him. Scared witless, Dave sent more money.
He ended up paying HK$8,000.

Eventually, the calls stopped. Dave went to the meeting

point but of course there was no girl. He wandered around,
waiting for more calls. Finally, he came to his senses and
went to the police. They told him hed been tricked and
asked for the evidence for investigation: the chat dialogues
from his mobile, the WhatsApp pictures and the call log. as
well as proof of payment.
This all happened about four months ago. Initially, Dave
was very nervous about his details coming out in a criminal
case. He didnt want help from relatives or friends. He
asked many questions about the consequences of being a
victim. Then the police told him about Project iSmart and
he came to us. He still needs emotional support and
counselling but although hes not very assertive he will
certainly be more careful in future.

Nini

Nini
Dave

The Nini report comes from the HKFYG Youth Crime Prevention Centre
(YCPC) Project R. Its aim is to provide crisis intervention and counselling
for 10-24 year-olds under arrest who are being investigated by the police.
Services are intended to reduce the chance of recidivism during
investigation, reduce emotional problems and family conflict between
juveniles and relatives, and help young people and their parents handle
their problems. Daves case is from Project iSmart. Its aims are to prevent
youngsters falling prey to cyber criminals and being ensnared while online.
Both projects are run in collaboration with the Hong Kong Police Force.

HKFYG Youth Crime Prevention Centre (YCPC)

Wilson Chan is in charge of the YCPC and Ka Wu is a front line case
worker. The stories and reports on pages 14-17 and 21-22 are all
based on real YCPC cases.
More information
ycpc.hkfyg.org.hk/page.aspx?corpname=youthlaw&i=8815

Wilson Chan

22

Note Names have been changed in these reports to protect identities.

Alipay* is an online payment system originating in mainland China.

Ka Wu

Perspectives

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Cyber strategies: legal and illegal

As the internets influence expands so do its uses and abuses. Gary Heilbronn,
author, advocate and former lecturer at the University of Hong Kongs Faculty
of Law, writes about the borderline between socially acceptable and illegal activities.

Internet-based petitions for change and social justice

such as those sponsored through Change.org1 and
SumOfUs2 are perfectly legitimate. These are signed and
supported financially by vast numbers of ordinary people
who oppose wrongs perpetrated by governments,
institutions or corporations in all parts of the world. On
the other hand, internet vigilante campaigns, usually on
interactive forums with a high profile in China and
Hong Kong, represent a somewhat different
phenomenon. This so-called renrou sousuo (),
human flesh searching in English and yan yuk sau sok
in Cantonese, is a form of parallel or participative justice.

Human flesh search

There is a geo-cultural difference between the two different
internet social action campaigns mentioned above. Online
petitions for change are notable in the western world whereas
renrou sousuo are common in China and the extended Chinese
community. This may be because of the social-political context
in which they have emerged, although that may be little more
than speculation. Two controversial and much commented
upon incidents of naming and shaming involved human
flesh searching by vast numbers of people. They are the
mainland China Government Official Child Molestation case
of 2008 and the 2012 Cat Abuse Case in Hong Kong. In the
former, an arrogant government official was targeted. He
suffered considerable reputational and career damage as well as
other losses. In the latter, misinformation resulted in the
manipulation of internet users whereby teenagers were accused
unjustly of animal abuse and suffered considerable harassment
before the police cleared their names.

Targets of renrou sousuo

The renrou sousuo movement, like various petitions for
change, is usually driven by ordinary members of the
public acting together and operating completely in the
open. Another of its characteristics is that individual,
lower-level wrongdoers are usually targeted whereas in
the petitions for change, it is mostly governments,
leaders and wealthy corporations. Perhaps the
willingness of individuals to participate in renrou sousuo
comes from the lack of an outlet for an understandable
desire to combat social injustice.

by Charis Tsevis flickr.com/photos/tsevis/13103128655/

ass social campaigns are among the activities that

have proliferated on the internet. They are especially
evident during divisive political events such as the US
presidential election, the Brexit referendum and the
Middle East refugee crisis. Mass cyber activity such as
trolling, cyberbullying and hate speech also seem to
have become increasingly rife, while cybervigilantism
also known as doxing and netilantism has been shown
to have both invidious and socially beneficial results.
What are the rights and wrongs involved in these
activities and where does violation of societys norms
become illegal?

23

One could also speculate that the tolerance shown by the

government of these activities can last only as long as the
targets are minor officials, private citizens or celebrities and
that indeed, allowing citizens this outlet for their desire for
social justice diverts their energy away from criticism of
more important government policies or government leaders.

Effecting social change

Internet sabotage and the targeted political activities of
groups like Anonymous3 and WikiLeaks fall into a
different category again. These are hidden, loose
networks of computer hackers who target groups and
individuals, from ISIS terrorists to purveyors of racism
and hatred such as US presidential candidate, Donald
Trump. While they aim to effect change internationally
and to combat injustice through increased governmental
transparency, they are more or less underground
movements driven by a small number of persons with
expertise and political commitment, whereas the petition
and renrou sousuo movements are more above ground
and have greater mass participation.
The dividing line between legal and illegal in many of
these activities is a grey area and it is extremely difficult
to estimate how fast cybercrime and antisocial activity is
growing. Interpol has two distinct categories. They are
advanced cybercrime, which includes sophisticated
high-tech attacks against computer hardware and
software, and cyber-enabled crime where traditional
crimes that now find a home in the dark web use the
internet not just to hide and escape detection but also to
identify victims globally over a wider range of society.

Dark web activity

The dark web distinct from the deep web, which
also includes relatively innocuous private networks not

Gary Heibronn

Anonymous

WikiLeaks

Gary

Dark Web

Notes
1. Change.org is a petition website with popular topics including economic
and criminal justice, human rights, education, environmental protection,
animal rights, health, and sustainable food.

2. SumOfUs, a non-profit organization, is a global consumer watchdog and

online community that campaigns on issues such as climate change,
workers rights, discrimination, human rights, animal rights, corruption,
and corporate power.

24

3. Anonymous is an international network of activist and hacktivist entities.

It became well-known for publicity stunts and distributed
denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks including the attack on Hong Kong
government websites in 2014 during the Occupy protests and an
allegedly threatened to attack official mainland websites concerning the
missing Causeway Bay booksellers this year.

indexed by conventional search engines is the

internets underworld and is sometimes called the
darknet. It is the small part of the deep web that is
built on darknets, usually operated by individuals in
small networks, or accessible only with special software
that often involves what would otherwise be identified as
criminal activity, perhaps the least pernicious of which is
spamming botnets (robot networks).
Mention of the dark web seems to occur most often in
connection with the evil, insidious practices of
paedophile rings and child pornography, human slavery
and trafficking, armament sales and marketing, or
terrorist recruiting networks. It is also widely associated
with financial scams, from phishing to credit card and
money laundering, including darknet drug and other
markets using Bitcoin services. Legislation varies from
one country to another and the criminal justice systems
of many jurisdictions struggle to deal with these activities
in the absence of international agreements, a state of
affairs which is unlikely to change soon.

A mixed future
More intensive and globalized policing efforts to combat
cybercrime are bearing fruit. Interpol continues to have
various levels of success in fighting these crimes and has
recently arrested in Nigeria the ringleader of a global
network behind online scams and hundreds of people
involved in credit card, travel document and online
gambling scams. However, new strategies need to be
developed to minimize and punish the detrimental
effects of renrou sousuo, internet hate-speech and the like.
The serious crimes on the dark web are in another
category completely and require eternal vigilance.
Though they are punishable worldwide, they are
incredibly difficult to investigate and appear likely to be
with us for quite some time.

Perspectives

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Online games
the good, the bad and the novelty
A few years ago, parents, counsellors and social workers were very concerned
about the possibility of youth addiction to online games. Hsu Siu-man
explains a changed perspective.

oday, hundreds of millions of people play video games,

for hours every day, at home, on the bus, during lunch
breaks. The vast majority are perfectly normal people of all
ages and I dont think there is any cause for concern about
so-called addiction to games like Angry Birds or Solitaire.
Multiplayer games are more of a worry for parents,
especially if young players dont know who they are playing
with, but thats less likely in Hong Kong than in many
places. Here online gamers often know their opponents in
real life.
Multi-level, multiple challenges games take time to develop
and skills that we adults would also have to work hard to
achieve. The games can be played in a team and are

never-ending. There is no ultimate goal, except, for some,

to enter an eSports competition. Games like League of
Legends (LOL) can keep youngsters engrossed all night
long, especially if parents dont stay awake to keep an eye
on them! That can lead to poor performance at school, and
eventually to poor health. However, some good reasons for
playing online games have emerged.
As 17 year-old Ah Lung told me:
I have a dozen friends who all play CSO.1 I treasure my time
with them. As a team, we set goals and can achieve a mission if
we play together and cheer each other on. Also, playing online
games helps my critical thinking and I have to be good at
decision-making. After all, its not easy to win these online
games!
I am not saying the problem has gone away. Some Hong
Kong youth lack social skills, especially hidden youth, and
playing games will not help them. But games are not the
root cause of poor social skills, nor are they the reason
behind excessive gaming among troubled youth who want
to escape into a shared fantasy world with both real life and
online friends.
In general, I prefer not to use the term internet addiction.
In fact, there has been an attitude change, reflected in the
falling demand from parents and teachers for counselling of
students who spend a lot of time playing online games.
Perhaps gaming has become less noticeable because of
smartphones. There is no need to sit in front of a computer
screen to play any more.
Perhaps it is also a question of balancing time. Compare the
time students spend online gaming with the time they
spend practising piano or training for football, say. In order
to get an extra line in a school portfolio, many students
spend hours and hours at a piano keyboard or at the sports
ground. Of course, we applaud extra-curricular success such
as reaching piano Grade 3 or being selected for a school
sports team. They both involve a lot of time, but there is
never any question of them becoming addictive. There is no
equivalent plaudit for reaching Level 99 in Minecraft, but
that too takes hours and real skill.
1 Counter Strike Online

25

I started to play online games after I moved to Hong Kong

from mainland China. I missed my relatives and friends and
was very lonely here with just my mother for company. Then I
discovered online games with classmates and schoolmates. They
helped me make friends and now the internet and online
games are real necessities!
Of course, fellow team members can coerce one another to
keep on playing when they might prefer to call it quits. But
many young players, such as 14 year-old Ah Ho, say they
continue to reach an achievable goal, quite unlike
unrealistic goals set by parents and teachers:
I know my mother worries but she always asks me to focus on
studying and improve my English, even though Im really not
good at it. I think 80% of my study time comes from her
pushing me. Actually, I think I would get better results if I
decided on goals myself, as I do when I play online games.
What else makes these games so attractive, especially to boys?
Its the team work, they say, the goal setting, the strategy.
There are rewards for perseverance that create a sense of
achievement. Some of these young gamers are rather low
academic achievers who find little satisfaction at school but
although they find it difficult to concentrate in class they can
concentrate for hours on the games.

by Ryzom - flickr.com/photos/ryzom/14608349209/

People in our profession, and the education sector too

perhaps, have realized that the labelling effect of calling a
youngster an internet addict is undesirable and
inappropriate if no harm to the individual is taking place.
They may be wasting time, but there are benefits to playing
games too, as 13 year-old Smile told me:

Real life practical skills are part of the game, like building
and creating. It also has educational functions that allow
practice in coding and programming too.

They keep playing to reach an

achievable goal, quite unlike the
unrealistic goals set for them by
parents and teachers.

I let my children play games like Minecraft. It is more like

playing Lego. It can also be multiplayer and is available on
smartphones but is not violent like other games.

Pros and cons of Pokmon Go

from a students perspective

Video games are not what they use to be. Gone are the days of
huddling in internet cafes. Now all we need is a smartphone and the
latest gaming craze app. Since Pokmon Go arrived in Hong Kong,
enthusiasts have been seen roaming the city, heads down, night and
day, looking for virtual creatures to capture. I was obsessed with the
game too, for a week, but now I see both good and bad sides.
They say Pokmon Go promotes exercise because gamers have to
walk, but they dont look where they are going. Its supposed to
encourage social interaction because it gives people of all ages a
common interest, but it does somewhat limit conversation. You might
say it adds a new dimension to friendship because friends try to beat
each other, chasing rare Pokmon creatures, but what value does that
add, really?
There could be better ways to spend, or waste, your time but whatever
your views, video games are not going away any time soon. There will
always be plenty of new ones and plenty of us playing them.

26

The current craze for Pokmon Go comes from novelty

value. There are mainly positive reviews about the way it
increases exercise and face-to-face interaction but I wouldnt
allow my kids to play. They would become too focused on
the phone, forget all about the traffic and ignore other
environmental risks.
Some researchers say that video games are bad because of
violent content. Certainly, video games can desensitize, but
what about the other media, TV, films, the evening news?
Its not just computer games that are to blame. Much of
peoples lives is spent online. Maybe we all waste time
online. Maybe we could all be called addicted. Perhaps its
truer of adults than youth. At least at school pupils cant
keep looking at their phones in class!

Hsu Siu-man, Supervisor at

HKFYG, oversees student
counselling including media
counselling services. She regularly
gives talks and offers training on
youth emotional health, study
planning and media education.
Her publications, produced in
collaboration with her professional
colleagues, include #
. [Beyond the Internet:
Narrative Journeys with Young People]. More details on
page 42.
Email siuman.hsu@hkfyg.org.hk

Catch-up on games

Are online games free?

Sometimes, but they may have charges for extra content,
controversial with parents caught out by big bills as
children download extra bill-later content.
Where are they made?
The top five video game producing countries are the US,
Japan, Canada, the UK and mainland China.
Which are most popular in Hong Kong?
For smartphones, Pokmon Go, a virtual reality game, and
puzzle games like Candy Crush Saga. For PCs, massive
multiplayer games (MMPORGs): eg League of Legends,
World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto. For consoles, sports,
fitness and dancing games like Wii Fit and Just Dance [see
pages 34-35].
What does Pokmon mean?
Pocket Monster is abbreviated from the Japanese title
( Poketto Monsut).

When should children start playing video games?

Experts advise against any screen time, including TV, for
children under two.
Can games be useful?
After the age of three, there is evidence that some games
help children with numeracy and literacy.
Which ones are educational?
Minecraft, for example, can teach building architecture,
physics, electronics, coding and geology. MinecraftEducan
be used in the classroom as can Classcraft, a free online,
role-playing game for teachers and students to play together.
What about limits?
Advice from experts says keep games machines in a
communal area of the home so that play can be monitored.
Limit total screen time to two hours a day.
Should I play?
Sure, and in this way you can keep an eye on what the
children are playing!

27

Youth watch

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Online and at risk

How vulnerable are young people who use the internet and social media heavily?
Jennifer Lam offers snapshots from around the world and legislation that is
intended to deter threats and protect the public.
Global views

Hong Kong

In a 2016 global poll, nearly 90% of 10,000 young

people said they knew how to protect themselves and
how to avoid dangerous situations online. However,
57% thought their friends behaviour online was risky,
with 53% of 18 year-olds strongly believing that other
youth were in danger of sexual abuse or exploitation.
Nevertheless, 50% of them thought they knew how to
deal with online sexual harassment.

Cyberbullying 63% had been bullied or been

involved in bullying online according to another 2013
survey.2 Instagram is the most commonly used social
media among teenagers, who also use WhatsApp,
WeChat and Line for such postings.

66% of all respondents and 78% of Asians believed they

would never personally be subject to online bullying or
abuse. Only 54% of adolescents polled in the US and the
UK were so confident. Just 28% of 18 year-olds from
Asia and 30% of adolescents in the US and the UK
thought they could determine whether or not anybody
was lying about their identity online.1

Legislation There is currently no statute on

cyberbullying. If such actions involve criminal
offences, such as blackmail, perpetrators can face a
maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment.3
Hacking and trafficking Among secondary students
aged 16-17 (63.3%), university students (29.1%) and
youth at risk (7.6%), 49% had tried hacking into
computers and 40% had been involved in drug
trafficking online.4
Compensated dating Underage compensated dating
where a man pays for a girls companionship and
often for sex has gone underground according to
police, who say it has moved to media such as
WeChat and Instagram where users can chat
privately. Reporting is low and reluctance to contact
police may be the result of a misunderstanding that
underage girls would be arrested.5
Hacking Hackers stole over HK$507 million in
August 2016 from Bitfinex, the popular Hong
Kong-based crypto-currency exchange company.
Bitfinex told customers they would lose about
36% of assets held on the platform but would
be compensated with tokens exchangeable
for shares in its parent company.6
Cybercrime Sextortion, also known as
naked chat blackmail, is on the rise.
1,098 cases cost victims HK$3.5 million
in 2015.7 The victims were mostly young
men aged 15-30. By contrast, in nearly
90% of online romance scams from
2013-2015, victims were female.
Romance scam victims lost a
total of more than HK$30
million to imposter partners.8

28

Australia

Legislation Possession of an image of a naked or

partially naked person under 18 on a phone or
computer can be considered an offence with a
custodial sentence.12 In some states it is illegal to
menace, harass or threaten anyone online and serious
cases of abuse on social media sites such as Facebook
or Twitter have been punished.13
Cheating Smartwatches have been banned in high
school exams.14 Some universities in Sydney are also
banning wristwatches in exams to avoid online
cheating.15 About 70 students faced expulsion from
Australia's top universities in 2015 in connection with
a widespread cheating scandal centred on a company
called MyMaster, run by a mainland Chinese person,
for ghost-writing assignments and online tests.16
Cybercrime A 2015 survey found 50% of teenagers sent
sexual images of themselves to others, mostly to relationship
partners. 40% had sent such an image to more than one
person in the past year.17 Up to June 2016, 1,518 romance
and dating scams had been reported.18

Singapore
Cyberbullying In 2014, a third of children aged 13-18
had been a cyberbullying victim.19 WhatsApp is the
most popular social network.20
Legislation In 2014, cyber harassment and stalking was
made illegal. Victims may apply for Protection Orders
requiring harassers to stop causing further harm and
forcing them to remove offending material.21
Cheating In 2016, a 32 year-old Russian student was
jailed for 2 months when he was traced for hacking.22
When he realized he had done badly in exams, he
accessed his teachers eLearn accounts and deleted
examination scripts by other students, hoping for
another chance to sit the exam.
Cybercrime Victims of online credit-for-sex scams,
where mobile messages ask victims to purchase gift
cards or virtual credit in exchange for sexual services,
surged to 1,203 in 2015. There were losses of S$1.59
million in the first 6 months.23 There were also 383
cases of internet love scams involving losses of S$3.7
million.24 Criminal gangs use Facebook to recruit
vulnerable teens who are pressured to join because of
social media's visibility.25

by Christiaan Colen
flickr.com/photos/132889348@N07/21382577412/

Cyberbullying In 2014, 20% of Australian children

aged 8-15 experienced cyberbullying and 75% of all
Australian schools reported incidences of it.9 In 2015,
80% of all teens used smartphones.10 Youth aged
2-15 spent an average of 11.5 hours on the internet
each week.11

29

South Korea

United Kingdom

Cyberbullying In 2014, nearly 28% of 12-17 year-olds

were subjected to cyberbullying.26 12% had private
information leaked online by peers, 10% suffered abuse
while playing online games while others suffered verbal
abuse on messaging apps, in chat rooms and on social
media. KakaoTalk, Facebook and Twitter are the most
popular social networks among youth.27

Cyberbullying In 2014, 35% of 11-17 year-olds had

been bullied online and a rise in use of social
networking sites, online activity and messaging apps,
was paralleled by an increase in cyberbullying. Twitter
(40%), WhatsApp (37%), YouTube (32%), Instagram
(35%) and Snapchat (26%) are favourites. Nearly a
quarter of 12-15 year-olds use Snapchat at least 10
times a day.34

Cheating In May 2013, the SAT college-entrance exams

were cancelled throughout the country because exam
materials had been leaked.31 It happened again in June
2016, in South Korea and Hong Kong.32 [See In the
news opposite.]
Cybercrime In 2014, the country suffered a large-scale
financial data security breach when personal information
of about 100 million South Korean credit card-holders
and of accounts was stolen.33

30

Legislation It is illegal for anyone under 18 to send

naked images of themselves to others and they risk
being put on the sex offenders register.35 Young
people getting involved with any cybercrime could
face warnings from police, arrest, loss of computers
and prevention of internet access, a penalty or fine
and up to 10 years in jail.36
Hacking In 2015, a 25 year-old final-year bioscience
student was jailed for 4 months for hacking into the
University of Birminghams computers using a
keyboard spying device to steal staff passwords and
improve his exam marks. He is thought to be the first
ever British student to be jailed for cheating.37
Cybercrime In 2015, revenge pornography the
sharing of private sexual photographs or films without
consent became a criminal offence. In the 6 months
after it was introduced, nearly 200 cases of revenge
pornography were reported.38

by Blue Coat photos

flickr.com/photos/111692634@N04/15327739193/

Legislation Search engines are required to verify users age

via national identity numbers as in mainland China. Site
access is blocked by government when minors use
keywords deemed inappropriate.28 A law aimed at curbing
cyberbullying by preventing internet users from hiding
behind false IDs came into force in 2008.29 A bill seeking
to prohibit employers from sending work-related messages
by telephone, text, social media or via mobile messaging
apps after working hours went before parliament in June
2016. It refers specifically to KakaoTalk, a chat app used
by around 80% of South Koreans.30

In the news

Application fraud
Companies in mainland China which polish or ghostwrite
students university applications and tests have been
identified by Reuters. The students receive
Chinese-language advertisements by email and the
companies are also accused of cheating in online versions
of tests for courses including law and economics at
universities in Iowa, Washington, Alabama and
Pennsylvania.39 Under new legislation in mainland China,
students found guilty of cheating in the gao kau university
entrance exam are to face up to 7 years in prison.40
Hiding from parents
27% of 14-16 year-olds globally use tools available online
to anonymize their activity and 61% of this group say they
are constantly online. 13% of 8-16 year-olds in the US
and 5% globally admit to having downloaded prohibited of
illegal material.41
Human flesh searching
Naked pictures of a 31 year-old woman from Hebei
province in mainland China were posted on the internet
by a vengeful ex-boyfriend who claimed she was a
prostitute with AIDS. Then he posted her personal details
plus phone numbers of 200 people who had ostensibly
slept with her. She received abusive calls and death
threats and lost her job before the police revealed the case
as a hoax. Investigators found 157,000 web pages, 6,420
online reports and 735 video clips about her online and the
32 year-old ex-lover was sentenced to 3 years in prison
having been found guilty of slander.42

Notes and sources

1. Young people means refers to those under 25 unless otherwise stated.
unicef.org.hk/upload/NewsMedia/publication/UNICEF_Growing-up-online.pdf
2. hongkong.coconuts.co/2013/11/11/survey-finds-more-teens-affected-cyber-bullying
3. police.gov.hk/ppp_en/04_crime_matters/tcd/
4. ycpc.hkfyg.org.hk/files/youthlaw/download/201307-web-cyber-crime_and_cyberdeviance_among_adolescents_in_hong_kong.pdf [in Chinese]
5. scmp.com/print/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1983136/underage-girls-rapeand-handbags-inside-murky-world-hong
6. theregister.co.uk/2016/08/03/67m_in_bitcoin_stolen_as_hacking_typhoon_lashes_
hong_kongs_bitfinex/
7. chinadailyasia.com/hknews/2016-05/16/content_15433695.html
8. scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1826582/online-romance-scammerscheat-love-struck-victims-out-hk30m
9. mamamia.com.au/cyberbullying-statistics-in-australia/
10. acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussieteens-and-kids-online
11. quiip.com.au/social-media-statistics-usage-trends-february-2015/
12. findlaw.com.au/articles/4720/sexting-and-australian-law.aspx
13. theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/online-abuse-how-harrassment-revengepornography-different-countries-deal-with-it
14. theconversation.com/students-are-using-smart-spy-technology-to-cheat-in-exams59241
15. smh.com.au/national/education/universities-crack-down-on-cheating-students20160421-gobq1m.html
16. smh.com.au/nsw/mymaster-essay-cheating-scandal-more-than-70-universitystudents-face-suspension-20150312-1425oe
17. smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/fifty-per-cent-of-teens-sext-by-mobile-phone20150731-giot3z.html
18. scamwatch.gov.au/types-of-scams/dating-romance
19. straitstimes.com/singapore/one-in-three-singaporean-teens-have-encounteredcyber-bullying-study
20. techinasia.com/talk/state-social-singapore
21. thediplomat.com/2014/03/singapore-criminalizes-cyber-bullying-and-stalking/
22. channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/smu-law-student-jailed-2/2519788.html
23. women.asiaone.com/women/relationships/online-dating-scams-more-women-asiafalling-prey-swindlers
24. channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-s-crime-up-4-in/2509028.html

Looking for love

2.7 million members of the most popular dating site in

Japan were duped when it was revealed that only one
member of the site was actually female. Men were paid to
pretend they were potential girlfriends so members would
pay fees. Eight executives were arrested.43
Girls get back at boys

In Britain, girls are ganging up on boys in a new

cyberbullying craze called roasting using mobile apps
such as WhatsApp, Instagram or Facebook. The girls
create an online chat room about a boy then abuse him.
They also use any bad news in the media to create
unpleasant memes.44
Taking stupid risks

At least five deaths in Britain were linked to a YouTube

challenge known as Neknominations. This drinking game
involves participants filming themselves drinking alcohol
then nominating someone else to continue likewise.45
A 14 year-old boy in the US had his hair ripped out and
risked blindness in one eye after attempting the duct tape
challenge where people wrap each other in duct tape and
then try to break free.46
White-hat hackers

Almost 70% of white-hat hackers, also known as ethical

hackers were born in the 1990s. They advise businesses
and government departments about web security risks.
The youngest white-hat hacker in mainland China in 2015
was 13.47 In late July 2016, Fang Xiaodun, the founder of
Wooyun, considered the largest ethical hacking
community in China, was arrested by the authorities.48
25. todayonline.com/singapore/gangs-using-social-media-recruit-members
26. blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/11/03/one-in-four-korean-students-hit-bycyberbullying-poll-shows/
27. koreaobserver.com/facebook-most-popular-social-media-tool-in-s-korea-poll-62060/
28. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_South_Korea
29. wiki.nus.edu.sg/display/cs1105groupreports/South+Korea+enforces+new+law+
to+curb+cyber+bullying
30. theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/24/south-korea-mulls-ban-on-bosses-messagingemployees-at-home
31. google.com.au/#q=online+cheating+exams+south+korea+
32. businessinsider.com.au/act-cheating-south-korea-and-hong-kong-2016-6?r=US&IR=T
33. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543167/Data-100MILLION-South-Korean-creditcards-stolen-scam-affecting-40-population-including-President-Park-Geun-hye.html
34. econsultancy.com/blog/66824-key-social-media-statistics-from-ofcom-scommunications-market-report/
35. telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/10985660/Sexting-scare-6-sexting-mythsbusted.html
36. nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/about-us/what-we-do/national-cyber-crime-unit
37. telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11560173/Exam-cheat-jailed-forhacking-into-university-computer-system.html
38. theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/online-abuse-how-harrassment-revengepornography-different-countries-deal-with-it
39. reuters.com/investigates/special-report/college-cheating-iowa/
40. nytimes.com/2016/06/08/world/asia/china-exam-gaokao-university-cheating.html?_r=0
41. kids.kaspersky.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/KL_Report_GUO_What_Kids_
Conceal.pdf
42. chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-05/04/content_9804512.htm
43. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3116784/Dating-site-2-7-million-members-one-womanBosses-online-scam-arrested-Japan.html#ixzz4CYOWrxSs
44. telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/07/24/girls-gang-up-on-boys-in-new-cyberbullyingcraze-called-roasting/
45. news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/youtube-challenges-instagram-selfies-the-dangeroustrends-not-worth-dying-for/news-story/43bcd4721f286dc2d0c0a4eeb3443d89
46. independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/failed-duct-tape-challenge-leaves-14-yearold-in-hospital-with-serious-head-injuries-a6836446.html
47. chinadailyasia.com/nation/2015-02/05/content_15224013.html
48. hongkongfp.com/2016/07/30/founder-chinas-largest-ethical-hacking-community-arrested/

31

City space

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Accessorize the athletic way!

fitness trackers, apps and more

wenty years back, exercise for the keen individual usually meant a session
in the gym or a hike in the hills. Now, with the growth of the fitness
industry, people can explore alternatives, squeezing exercise into hectic
schedules while monitoring progress with fitness wearables.
Once seen as a status symbol, today most wearable devices are a long-term
health investment. They act as an electronic finger on the pulse, monitoring
condition through heart rate, step count and calories, then providing
detailed summaries of workouts. Prices range from HK$400 upwards and it
is worth asking yourself before buying whether youre serious about fitness
or just want to look good.

by Tamara Maz flickr.com/photos/tamarapaz/5221687986/

Joy Pamnani takes a look at todays fitness industry and how it has transformed
not only how Hong Kong people stay fit but also the way fashion and accessories
can motivate them.

Training plus gaming

by Eddie Gustavsson flickr.com/photos/eddieg/191310694/

Bear in mind that running is the number one sport for

most tracking devices although a few wearables cater to
cyclists and swimmers. Some brands offer GPS
functions, sensors for skin temperature and reports on
sleep quality. Top-of-the-range smartwatches can run an
entire mobile (body) operating system. The latest

32

innovations are not devices at all in the conventional

sense. They are clothes with digital identities and data
profiles. Just two examples are running shoes from
Under Armour with built-in tracking and smart clothes
from Athos with built-in sensors that use
electromyography to measure muscle activity.
Many parents fear their children will get addicted to
video games but some game developers have added a
new positive element, bringing fitness into the world of
entertainment. The Nintendo Wii introduced active
games with a remote control in 2006 but the real deal
started with the Wii Fit accessory, introduced at the
Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2007. Acting as a
wireless balance board, it sparked the release of video
games involving aerobics, yoga and strength training.
Xbox released the controller-free Kinect in 2010 with
specialized sensors to detect body movement. It was
followed by the launch of many dance and sports games,
a few of which incorporated personal training. Just
Dance, available on the Wii and Xbox, is one example,
with accurate point-scoring and user-designed workouts,
while Nike+ Kinect Training is for people of all shapes
and sizes with tests to assess progress and compare fitness
levels with family and friends.

by Billie Grace Ward flickr.com/photos/wwwardo/16532982622/

Added apps
The perfect workout playlist for your exercise routine is a
must especially for runners because speed of pace can
be linked to music tempo. Spotify, a music streaming
service, has a clever function that matches tempo and
workouts with playlists containing songs that have the
same rhythm. A few apps also allow you to make a few
bucks if you stick to your goals while others make
donations if you stay on track.

Both the Apple and Android app stores have software for
devices, many catering to those who want a workout
session involving weight loss, strength training or cardio.
Some apps are created by top trainers and most feature
simple videos of short workouts but a few boast an entire
online fitness community to connect with.

As someone who did not look forward to physical

education at school, I am glad the world of online fitness
reached out to me at a young age. One summer, wanting
to tone up before classes began, I tried running along the
waterfront. It wasnt much fun. Turning on my Wii and
playing dance games was much more exciting. Today, its
amazing to see how many others have discovered a
passion for exercise by stepping into the world of hi-tech
fitness. Its a new way to commit to a lifetime of health
and happiness.

by Jareed flickr.com/photos/jareed/7885564472/

Some fitness instructors use YouTube and other social

media for yoga, Pilates, cardio workouts and Zumba
routines. Others run independent blogs and websites,
like award-winning American Pilates instructor
Cassey Ho with her Call Me Maybe Squat Challenge.
Another independent site, Nerd Fitness, is
programmed with a variety of quests and challenges
whereby users can not only reach their peak fitness but
can also enjoy being the main character in a video game.

Joy Pamnani is an
aspiring young
journalist who hopes to
travel the world

33

City space

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Leaders to Leaders
Youth empowerment in Russia, poverty alleviation in Mexico,
peace-building and disaster relief worldwide: these are just a few of the
careers of visiting young leaders in a new Federation initiative.

ummer 2016 saw a new departure for HKFYGs Leadership 21 centre when its Leaders to Leaders programme sent
invitations to young leaders around the world. Already, nine have visited and inspired youth here. The first group
included dynamic humanitarian project organizers, innovators, trainers, designers, developers and NGO founders.
Two are featured here and there will be more to follow.

Ana Maria Castro Monzn, a 25 year-old architect, talked about her

experience of positive change as director of the Street Store in the
town of Obregon in Mexico. The Street Store movement originated
in South Africa and was founded by Maximilian Pazak, another
Leaders to Leaders speaker. It is the worlds first rent-free,
premises-free, free pop-up clothing store for the poor. Recognizing
that homelessness is a global problem, the founders encouraged people
all over the world to follow suit. Its success in the first two years
means it now reaches over 41,000,000 people in more than 450
stores. Being conscious of the needs of ones community is the first
step, says Ana. I was inspired by Muhammad Yunnus. Other people
saw how passionate he was and wanted to join him. Now I want to
share my passion with others.
While she was here, Ana worked side by side with Leadership 21
to organize a street store in Sham Shui Po. Felix Chan
(pictured below right), a medical student and former
Leadership 21 Co-Creator participant, who has been working
with the homeless since 2012, reports:
My friends and I are taking a small step towards
change, connecting individuals and offering them equal
chances with StreetDrobe. Its an open community
wardrobe with free food, healthcare and personal
hygiene products for those who cannot afford them. I
already knew about Spains Solidarity Fridge network
that saves surplus food in Spanish towns. Now Ana has
given me inspiration and encouragement with the Street
Store in Mexico.
First, we set up the StreetDrobe sharing platform to tell
people about what we do. The platform is a crossroads
for sharing. At its heart is redistribution but a side-effect
is environmental protection. By sharing, we also recycle and
reuse.
Anyone who visits the StreetDrobe can benefit. It is
unpressured and non-stigmatizing and those who are
neglected especially the homeless can be cared for.

34

We had a great kick-off with Ana in Sham Shui Po.

Hundreds of people came along. It was the first small
step for our community. Next we can take a bigger step,
into other corners of Hong Kong. StreetDrobes social
platform means give and take, but most importantly it
gives dignity to the needy. They get freedom to choose,
just like everyone else.

Talking about Y2Ys Action Hub, Saida describes it as,

an online incubator for socially beneficial ideas and
businesses created by youth and for youth. It is also a
space for networking and team-building,
skills-acquisition and knowledge-sharing.

Saida Ibrahimava is the Belarusian co-founder and

director of the Youth to Youth Initiative (Y2Y). This
non-profit umbrella organization works in such fields as
education and employment, human rights, social
inclusion, gender equality, transparency and anticorruption. Its focus is on youth development, especially
youth participation in the decision-making process.

Y2Ys Action Hub 2016 projects include Lensational

which works for female empowerment through
photography. Another aims for election transparency in
Ghana. A project in Moscow is about corruption and
one in Indonesia is about bribery. Each year, Y2Y holds a
Youth to Youth Summit which presents challenging
youth topics and facilitates panel discussions, cultural
activities and workshops that aim to inspire participants
to cooperate on production of joint projects. The best
projects, selected during the Summit, automatically
receive a year-long unlimited support for development
and implementation under the Youth to Youth Action
Hub. Saida says, At present, Y2Y is seeking a venue for
its 2017 Youth Summit. Watch this space!

More information
Street Store thestreetstore.org/
Facebook facebook.com/StreetDrobeHK/
Youth to Youth Initiative y2yinitiative.org/index.php
Leaders to Leaders leadership21-leaderstoleaders.com/

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Destinations

Central and Eastern Europe, Africa

Asia including mainland China, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
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Arabia

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Travel period February-April 2017

Apply m21.hk/friendship/backpacker/apply.php

Enquiries

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35

Talking point

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

What does Brexit mean?

Mindy Li contemplates the referendum in the UK this summer and the effects of
Britains planned exit from the European Union. She says that understanding its
implications is important for young people everywhere.

To understand the implications of Brexit on individuals

and groups, we need to understand events leading to and
immediately following the vote. Faced with immigration
policies and European Union (EU) taxes, Brexiters
claimed that leaving would mean regaining control. On
the other hand, Remainers highlighted the estimated
three million jobs linked to UK exports to EU countries,
although they are not dependent on EU membership.
Mobility of labour within the EU was also a powerful
argument for upwardly mobile youth.
Months of debate by opposing groups ended in a very close
result: 51.9% to 48.1%, just a 3.8% margin in favour of
leaving the EU. Only one third of the electorate voted and
turnout among the young was low. Many who did not vote
said they thought it would make no difference to the
outcome. Three-quarters of those aged 18-24 who did vote
wanted to stay in the EU.

Racism on the rise

What alarmed me most in the aftermath were the racial
slurs and hate crimes recorded by the media. I saw people
justifying their racism by the countrys wish to establish
border controls pending exit from the EU. Statistics from
the National Police Chiefs Council showed that reports of
hate crime rose by 57% two days after the vote. In a week,
331 cases were reported compared to an average of 63 per
week pre-Brexit. It is hard to understand why so many
people are xenophobic, but racism is deplorable.

by fernando butcher com/photos/kelsey97/27678701211/

36

by Simon Goldsworthy flickr.com/photos/sgoldswo/27230025574/

he results of the Brexit referendum in the UK came

down like a bucket of cold water. Some welcomed the
outcome with open arms, like a cool shower on a hot
summers day. Others shivered violently in the
aftermath. Many were just confused. The simple fact is
that it happened and the world looks different, especially
for young people in Britain and Europe.

Due to the fear induced by radical Islamist terrorist activities

in recent past years, immigration has earned a bad
reputation. Instead of seeing the help given to innocent
families as humanitarian kindness, many see only danger
signs associated with refugees. They were seen as
non-belongers and we would be hypocrites to say, That
would never happen in Hong Kong. In fact, the situation in
the UK echoes the dispute between Mainlanders and
Hongkongers as well as attitudes to other minorities.
Prejudice is a problem that we must all address.
After all the wars the world has engaged in, we should
have learnt how to live in harmony with people from
different backgrounds. Instead, the reaction we see is
retrograde. Surely we should be focusing on the benefits
brought by skilled workers to a tolerant, multicultural
society, and the ways in which advancing technology and
strengthened intergovernmental cooperation could bring
nations closer together.

by Alex flic.kr/p/Jzt2iW

Intergenerational injustice
The EU referendum also provoked another argument.
Young city dwellers often find their views diametrically
opposed to those of the grassroots and this was no
exception. 53% of voters in the Brexit referendum aged
under 40 voted to remain in the EU. They were very
dissatisfied to learn that older generations had,
essentially, determined the future for younger generations.
In any fully democratic state, all votes carry equal
weight, giving citizens the opportunity and the
responsibility to contribute their vote. It is important for
every individual to participate so that results reflect the
views of the majority. Teaching the younger generation
that every vote matters is the key to a fair community.
Change is part of nature but sometimes we get a little
too comfortable with the present. Maybe the referendum
results would have been different if terrorists and wars
had not provoked a refugee crisis. Maybe young people
should have made more of an effort to vote, believing
that their views mattered. Maybe the reasons for holding
this referendum should have been more carefully
considered in the first place. But these are all maybes,

and unless someone magically builds a working time

machine, we cannot change what has happened.
What now? Now we learn to accept reality. In a
globalized community, we learn to accept diversity and
to be open-minded towards other cultures and beliefs.
We learn to treat others as equals and judge ourselves
according to the same standards. In order to move
towards a better future, we have to adapt. Furthermore,
even though the news gives us information, we should
stay wary of the insidious role the media can play in
shaping public opinion, especially in an era of social
media where a short tweet from an influential person can
have momentous consequences.

Mindy Li is a graduate of
St. Stephens College who
is now majoring in
International Studies at The
College of New Jersey.

37

Culture

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

From writing to reading

a brief glance through time
Jean Letterman looks at ways in which people have communicated, the ways in
which we read and todays reading devices.

n order to make thoughts and language readable,

people first had to discover a way to write. Egypt,
Mesopotamia and Harappa in Pakistan are considered
by experts to be the birthplaces of writing between
3500 BCE and 3100 BCE.
Egyptian hieroglyphs, from around 3300 BCE, are most
commonly considered to be the earliest form of writing.
However, some experts believe earlier writing, dating
back 5,500 years, may have been unearthed at Harappa.
However, in 2009, a ground-breaking study revealed
that markings from sites in Ice Age France might be the
precursor to a Paleolithic system of written
communication dating back nearly 30,000 years.

Modern technology was used to compare images from

nearly 150 locations, revealing striking similarities in the
markings. Jiahu symbols, dated to 6600 BCE, carved on
tortoise shells and found in China, are thought of by
scholars not so much as writing but as undecipherable
marks. Oracle bone script, dating from 1500 to 1000
BCE, is the earliest known form of Chinese script.
Next, humans began searching for the perfect material to
write on. Ancient Egyptians used papyrus, a thick type
of paper made from the pith of a plant. This was
replaced by parchment, made from animal skin. Paper
came into the spotlight around the 200 CE, when
paper-making arrived in China. Paper scrolls were

Ancient symbols and signs

38

Paleolithic symbols (France)

35000-10000 BCE

Jiahu symbols Hieroglyphs (Egypt)

(China) 6600 3300 BCE
BCE

Oracle bone script

(China) 1500-1000 BCE

Paleolithic signs: by Jos-Manuel Benito

Jiahu symbols: Nature,

April 28, 2003

Oracle bone script: by BabelStone

Egyptian hieroglyphs on papyrus: by By Flembles Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp

widely used before 300 CE. Then the codex, an

ancient version of the modern-day book, was
developed by the Romans from wooden writing
tablets. Prepared by stacking pages and fixing one
edge, the codex brought in the idea of including a
table of contents. Compared to the scroll, the codex
proved easier to rest on the table for reading and
taking notes and when a hardback cover was added,
the modern day book we all know and love emerged.

Hong Kong has a solid foundation as a connector between mainland

China and to
overseas
countries.
it upgrade to a super-connector by
Writing,
printing,
to Can
e-books
effective use of the competencies which promote economic co-operation
Until the printing press was invented in 1440, books
with Belt and Road countries?
were copied by hand on request. The press saw
production costs fall rapidly, sparking a mass revolution
of printing activity. Lower costs translated into
widespread distribution of books and rapid growth in the
number of readers.

The local scene

The first microprocessor was invented in 1971, opening

the door to the e-book industry. In the 1980s,
CD-roms saw literature moving into electronic editions
and becoming available in digital form. 1989 marked
the creation of the World Wide Web and digital
libraries like Google Books began to emerge. The first
online bookstore, Amazon, was started in 2000 with its
Kindle e-book reader. It was followed by devices with
similar functions including Apples iPad and Barnes
and Nobles Nook.

Hong Kong people enjoy reading, as is evident from

huge crowds at the annual Hong Kong Book Fair.
However, compared to older generations, young
people dont seem to spend much time in the world of
fiction. Students lives are so busy. I have very little
time to read, said one Book Fair visitor, 14 year-old
Helen Leung. 18 year-old Priya Gandhi commented,
I just finished my public exams and in my last few
years of school I never had time to read for pleasure.
Im glad to see these students at the Book Fair have
some spare time.

Since then, e-books and devices have improved to

cater to readers needs. In 2013, the Association of
American Publishers announced that e-books
accounted for about 20% of all book sales. Now there
are waterproof tablets, elements of interactivity with
text and software and aspiring authors can share their
content worldwide. Digital technology has also taken
reading into undeveloped areas around the world.

Ready to Read
Literacy decreases inequality and breaks the cycle
of poverty. Still, half the schools in Africa have few
or no books. However, thanks to the increasing
ubiquity of digital technology, in sub-Saharan
African hundreds of schools and libraries now have
access to local African textbooks, storybooks, world
newspapers, and classics from around the world
via the Worldreader app. In partnership with
publishers and other charities like Camfed, this
initiative is scaling up and taking literacy into some
of the worlds most needy places.

Although tablets and e-books have been on the rise,

young people in Hong Kong say they still prefer printed
books. I like the feel and smell of a book and I enjoy
flipping the pages! says 14 year-old Tracy Tsui. She also
thinks tablets tire the eyes whereas she can carry on
reading a hard copy book for hours.

On a personal level
I was an avid reader throughout childhood and a huge
fan of detective stories but at high school I was also too
busy to pick up a novel. Nowadays, I read a lot of online
news but it doesnt make up for the joy of being
absorbed in a book. For me, thats always like going on
an adventure, living with the main characters and solving
mysteries together.
I hope young people will discover a similar joy of
reading, be it in electronic or hard copy form. To quote
American novelist George R.R. Martin:
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man
who never reads lives only one.

39

HKFYG publications

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Books and boutiques

without boundaries
Tired of wandering round shopping malls where all you find are the same old
brands? Try one of these unusual shops instead, says Cyrus Cheng, in an
introduction to an autumn special offer on new books: see pages 42-43.
Bike the Moment

This is a cycle shop with a difference. It pioneers the

concept of urban cycling as Hong Kong lifestyle.
University graduate Queenie and her boyfriend Hughes
opened it two years ago. Queenie used to work in the
media but it was too hectic. I was so busy there was
time for nothing but work and the only stress-relief was
crazy shopping. I spent far too much on luxury brand
bags!
So Queenie started saving and when she thought she had
saved enough she quit her job and began a long journey
in Europe and Britain with Hughes. It was truly
unforgettable, but at the time we had no idea that it
would change our lives entirely, she said, as she began
telling me their story.

Everywhere they went, they rode bikes, exploring cities

like Paris, Amsterdam and London as they went. Some
cities have embraced the idea of bicycles wholeheartedly
for daily life, for commuting, for shopping for
everything! Facilities for cyclists are provided by the
municipality which sees them as real road users, catered
for in the transport system just like everyone else. So
different from Hong Kong where cycling is considered a
40

gentle pastime or a necessity for low-paid delivery men.

Fascinated by the concept of urban cycling, Queenie and
Hughes decided to promote it as a way of life. Their
store, Bike the Moment, was born. We show that urban
cycling in Hong Kong can be much more than a
recreational activity reserved for weekends. Instead, a
bicycle can revolutionize your life.
To begin with, they promoted cycling by posting
activities on Facebook and inviting everyone to come
along. These were not high-level cycling competitions.
Anyone with a bicycle could join us! By bike, you can
appreciate a new place better and even your own district
looks different at a gentle pace.
As more and more people joined in, they got attention
from overseas. Tokyobike, Japanese bicycle makers,
contacted Queenie and Hughes and said how much
they appreciated their efforts. A working relationship
was established and Bike the Moment now sells
Tokyobikes in their Kwun Tong store.

Address Unit B11, 11/F, Mai Hing Industrial Building

Block B,16-18 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Facebook facebook.com/BikeTheMoment
Web store.bikethemoment.com/
Opening hours Friday - Sunday 2pm - 8pm

We choose brands carefully and hope customers are

interested in the story behind them rather than just the
end-products and the prices. Take our rice bicycle bell
as another example. Its a recycled part of an old rice
cooker that works brilliantly as a bike bell.
Queenie and Hughes have achieved a great deal in just two
years but they have no plans to ease the pace. As Queenie
concluded, In the end, our dream is for Hong Kong
people to see that bicycles dont just mean recreation.
They can also mean part of daily life, enjoyed by bike.

Some people thought Jerry made the wrong decision but

for him it was just logical. I wasnt sad to quit studying.
Im passionate about the shop, with lots of ideas to
develop and if I dont follow my dream now, I will regret
it when I grow up.
Despite all his efforts, business was hard. Takings were
were far too low to cover the rent, let alone give Jerry a
salary. I couldnt ask my family for more support. All I
could do was tighten my belt and keep up the struggle.

Journalize: a living passion

Can you imagine running your own store when you are just 18
years old? Can you imagine having only four days off each
year? Can you imagine giving up your degree for the sake of
the shop? Jerry, the young owner of the shop Journalize, will
tell you that it is all worth it.
I have loved stationery ever since I was a little boy and so after
my end-of-school examinations I decided to open my own
stationers shop. To begin with, life went smoothly and Jerry
was happy, but it wasnt all plain sailing. Soon the challenges
began to appear.

Jerry was lucky in some ways. My kind customers

knew my story and always encouraged me. Sometimes
they even brought lunch! The media picked up on the
story too eventually and as people got to know about
the shop, business came good. From choosing
products to setting prices, I have learnt a lot. Now I
sell special stationery that I think will suit my best
customers and I display new brands that will catch the
eye of passers-by. I am not sure how far I can go from
here but for now, Im on the right track, satisfied just
to have the real thing: my dream shop.

Boutiques without Boundaries

Buy this book now at a discount price.
Turn to pages 42-43 for details.

I chose the location - a shop opposite the Central Library because there are plenty of passers-by. That meant a high rent
so to save on costs, I had no staff to mind the shop and took
no days off in the first year except at Chinese New Year.
The need to cut costs wasnt Jerrys only problem. He was
ambitious. I had enrolled for a Chinese medicine degree
programme too and hoped I could somehow fit both the shop
and study into my life. But it didnt work and soon my degree
course leader told me either to keep my shop or focus on
study. For me, there was no choice. I quit the degree.
Address 6A, Moreton Terrace, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Facebook facebook.com/journalize
Opening hours Monday - Sunday 1pm - 9pm

41

New books for 2016

Handicrafts, online gaming, social innovation, tips for teachers and stories about local boutiques: all this and much
more in new HKFYG books this year, and now at amazing prices.

Special Discounts for readers!

With the coupon on the opposite page, Youth Hong

Kong readers can enjoy special 50% discounts on all
new titles. Visit our office any time from 1 October till
31 December to collect!

Make an appointment by:

Calling 3755 7109 or emailing CPS@hkfyg.org.hk

Come to collect at:

21/F, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, 21

Pak Fuk Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Beyond the Internet:

Narrative Journeys with Young People
#
ISBN: 978-988-12446-4-2

Price: $80

Now at $40:
See story page 15-17

A dozen real stories of young

peoples lives with online computer
games and counsellors who have
helped them with narrative therapy.

From Shoplifting to Life-lifting

ISBN: 978-988-12446-6-6

Price: $90

Now at $45

From the latest statistics to case

studies and counselling activities,
this book asks why young Hong
Kong people steal and provides
some solutions for social workers.

SchooLike 2.0 More Inspiration from Schools

2.0
ISBN: 978-988-77132-3-4

Price: $90

Now at $45

Principals, teachers, students

and celebrities all contribute to
the SchooLike website and their
stories are inspiring and
touching. SchooLike 2.0 brings
together 30 of their stories. For
parents and general readers who
want to know more about what
happens at school.

42

TeachLike: Essential Smarts for Teachers

ISBN: 978-988-77132-0-3

Price: $80

Now at $40

The SchooLike website has a wide

range of articles to help teachers
deal with problems encountered in
school. These include helping
students with special educational
needs (SEN). All teachers and school
professionals who work with young
people will find something of use.

50 Essential Questions For Startups

50
ISBN: 978-988-12445-8-1

Price: $100

Now at $50

For anyone who wants to know

more about setting up and running
a new business: keeping accounts,
the legal aspects of doing
business, human resources and
hiring and many other aspects. This
book offers help, with 50 questions
answered by professionals.

Know-how for Pet Practitioners

Lifes Twists and Turns

Price: $90

Price: $90

More and more people in Hong

Kong keep pets and a huge
potential industry has emerged to
service their needs. This book,
written for those who want to work
in the pet industry, has many tips
and all the background needed to
see the big picture.

It is the tenth year of the Felix Wong

Award and this tenth anniversary
compilation of 20 inspiring life
stories from young people will
definitely cheer you up. They all tell
tales of hardship and challenge,
bravely overcome at a young age.

ISBN: 978-988-12446-8-0

Now at $45

Arts & Crafts with Young Makers

ISBN: 978-988-12446-7-3

Price: $90

Now at $45

Young people in Hong Kong like

to make things and to share
what they make with others.
Read the life stories of people in
the world of handicrafts and
learn a few tricks of their trades
in this well-illustrated book.

ISBN: 978-988-12446-5-9

Now at $45

Boutiques without Boundaries

ISBN: 978-988-77132-2-7

Price: $90

Now at $45.
See stories on pages 40-41.
Introducing 10 local shops run
by passionate young people,
this book invites readers to visit
and share a slower life that really
does exist in another side of
Hong Kong.

Startupedia
ISBN: 978-988-12446-9-7

E
ER
H
T
U

N
TI DI
TL S
ES CO
U

o
b up
es efo on
s re to
on 3 H
op 0/1 KF
po 2/ YG
si 16
Bu
te
ild
pa
in
ge
g

16

50

dd
r

Travel can take you everywhere!

Come to North District in Hong
Kong with us and follow in the
footsteps of young people. You will
find unforgettable journeys, right on
your door step!

IA
A L
L
in
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th L
is
20
c
A

Now at $45

Starting a business as a social

innovator is not a simple task.
Knowing about accounting and
marketing, maintaining good
networks and having good
business sense are all essential.
Startupedia is a toolkit for anyone
who want to get started.

Br

Price: $90

Now at $35

EC

ISBN: 978-988-77132-1-0

Price: $70

SP

Backpack Hong Kong: North District

43

Ideals, Dedication, Engagement, Aspirations and Service:

young peoples opinions shape and build the future.

LegCos performance
could do better

What do young people think of the roles and functions of the legislature ?

O
verall, young Hong Kong respondents find the running of the Legislative Council [LegCo] unsatisfactory and nearly
60% feel distrustful about it. Almost a third lament its lack of rational debate or complain about its disorderly procedure.
These problems are evident in the controversial filibustering used to block or delay the passage of government policies and
the unruly behaviour of certain members who are well-known for throwing bananas and bottles to deliberately disrupt
proceedings.

Comments
The think tank group involved in this report hope to see a more orderly, rational culture in future LegCo meetings.
An improved relationship with the government and more public engagement in LegCo affairs are also on their wants
list.
Richard Cheng, group convener Young peoples reservations about LegCo include lack of trust. Its time that the
legislature made more effort to engage the public and improve levels of both understanding and communication.

by Tksteven commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17242665

Ansel Lam, group member LegCo should raise the standard of debates and discussions in order to rebuild its image and
restore public trust.

What does LegCo do?

LegCos 70 members consist of 35 who are directly
elected, 5 so-called super seat members who are district
council-based, and 30 members who represent
trade-based functional constituencies . Members duties
are to enact, amend or repeal laws, to examine and
approve budgets, taxation and public expenditure, and
to raise questions on the work of the government.
Report No. 11 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S.

Governance & Constitutional Development group.

Young Peoples Views on the Roles and Functions of the

Legislative Council.

539 18-34 year-olds were polled in a territory-wide random

survey. Five specialists and 20 youth were also interviewed.
Full details [in Chinese]
yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/news.aspx?id=f4497f6f-6cd6-4203-a3b5-a6
69002850e0&corpname=yrc&i=9559

44

Lifelong learning
blocks and hurdles

Participation in continuous learning is declining, especially in 18-34 year-olds.

Whats the explanation?

Theres a mismatch between belief and reality according

to the findings of this survey. The majority of respondents
believe in the value of continuous learning and about a
third recognize the importance of upgrading and adding
value to skills. However, during the past five years only a
third of respondents had enrolled in a course and 46%
had no plan to do so in future. Expensive tuition fees and
making time for courses were the main problems.
Support not available?
Over 60% of those who had taken courses in the past
five years had not received support from the Continuing
Education Fund, usually because the courses chosen
were not subsidized. At present the Fund offers
reimbursement for recognised courses if applications are
made within four years of commencement of study. The
ceiling is HK$10,000 per course.
Details of subsidized courses
wfsfaa.gov.hk/cef/intro.htm

Comments
Employers need to be open to the needs of all employees
and educational institutions could be more flexible with
schedules and e-learning.
Janis Tong, group member Subsidies could be doubled
to HK$20,000 and the range and number of course sectors
could be increased to encourage lifelong learning.
Mac Chan, group member Tax concessions could be
offered to employers who support employees continuous
learning. Flexible timetables and online courses would be
convenient for those with irregular working hours.
Report No. 12 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S. Education and Innovation
group. Young Peoples Views on Continuous Learning. 527 18-39
year-olds were polled in a territory-wide random survey. 20 were
interviewed as were four specialists.
Full details [in Chinese]
yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/news.aspx?id=93aad322-639a-49b9-b087-59458af5c46
f&corpname=yrc&i=9587)

49
45

Hong Kong tourism

time for change

Why dont Hong Kongs travel services diversify to respond to todays market?

The profile of visitors to Hong Kong has changed. Once

attracted mainly by the shopping here, today nearly half

Jess Yeung, group convener The tourism sector should

consider launching more themed tourist routes with
cross-sector collaboration to promote local culture. The
participation of local groups in the design of such routes
would benefit sustainable development.

spend most of their time sightseeing. Only 17.5% are

interested in luxury products and just 14.4% spend the
majority of their time in the shops. Visitors also prefer not
to travel on group tours. They are not satisfied with only
the famous tourist attractions. Instead, they want to learn
more about Hong Kongs culture and are interested in a
more personalized travel experience.

Bird Tang, group member The Travel Industry

Council should consider an accreditation system. Residents
with professional knowledge of communities at the district
level could qualify as walking tour guides for visitors
within this system.

Comments

Kyle Si, group member Cycling tours could be promoted

on routes such as Sha Tin to Tai Mei Tuk. More mountain
bike facilities could also be built on Lantau Island. These
would help in environmental conservation as well as
attracting visitors.

Members of this think tank group believe the tourism

sector should offer a range of travel options in Hong
Kong to provide visitors with a more satisfying,
rounded experience.
Number of visitors from 2006 - 2015

70,000
60,000

60,839
Total

Mainland China

54,299

50,000

48,615
41,921

40,000

36,030

30,000
20,000

28,169
25,251
13,591 15,486

29,591

29,507
16,862

17,957

59,308

47,248

40,745

45,842

34,911
28,100

22,684

10,000
2006

by Dennis Wong https://flic.kr/p/67WHLJ

number of visitors

46

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

source: http://partnernet.hktb.com/tc/home/index.html

Report No. 13 HKFYG Youth I.D.E.A.S.

Employment & Economic Development group
Diversifying Hong Kongs Attractions to Boost Tourism
570 visitors aged 15 or above responded to the survey
at The Peak, in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui.
19 stakeholders from the tourist industry were
interviewed, including experts and young people.
Full details [in Chinese]
yrc.hkfyg.org.hk/news.aspx?id=d92f20fe-b4c4-48a1-8a
d3-e14958492630&corpname=yrc&i=9551

HKFYG news

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

lab building up STEAM

The LEAD creative education programme is taking STEM education an
extra step forward, building on its experience and reputation with the new
LEAD lab and a pioneering venture in STEAM.

oung people today need practical skills and useful

knowledge to tackle challenges and find jobs. LEAD
(Learning through Engineering, Art and Design) is a
creative education programme spearheaded by HKFYG
to help them.
The LEAD concept has been developed in collaboration
with the MIT Media Lab and the Chinese University of
Hong Kong. Since 2005, it has introduced youth to
technologies from the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at
the MIT Media Lab, instilling a new way of learning that
is free of right ways and wrong answers. The goal is
inventive education through engagement in hands-on,
design-based strategies in multiple disciplines which
include STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics).
The 2015 and 2016 policy addresses refer to STEM
education as the route to renewal and enrichment in the
school curricula. LEAD fosters this type of integrated,
multidisciplinary education and is committed to
supporting holistic development in line with educational
reforms in Hong Kong. Its new one-stop STEM learning
centre, the LEAD lab, focus on three elements: Academy,
Competitions and Talent & Exchange.

Academy where learning takes place

For the coming academic year, HKFYGs LEAD lab
will foster STEM education and provide support to
the next generation of scientists and innovators.
A wide range of workshops with state-of-the-art
facilities will be available for schools, parents and
students. These workshops will revolve around STEM,
building momentum in STEAM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Art & Design and
Mathematics), an added extra which sparks innovative
ideas, helping participants consolidate new skills and
giving them experiential learning.
Learning works best through doing, as Confucius, the
great Chinese philosopher said, I hear and I forget, I see
and I remember, I do and I understand. Likewise, at
LEAD knowledge is applied and not wasted. Fully
engaged students at LEAD lab workshops will have
hands-on activities which stimulate their young minds,
but they will also be fun and keep children focused:
thinking, questioning and making connections.

47

Putting STEM skills first

Knowledge and skills in STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics) are needed for many
occupations and indicators used by researchers at the
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predict that
economic growth will be dependent on STEM
education. Their recent report* envisages that the best
performing economies will have the most students
graduating in STEM degrees. By 2030, in absolute
terms, India and China are estimated to come out on
top, with a forecast 1.7 million STEM graduates in the
Indian workforce and about 400,000 in mainland
China. The report also points out that Chinas problem
may be finding jobs for such graduates. It also indicates
little change for Hong Kong between now and 2030.
Thus the LEAD lab initiative, putting STEM skills first.
*eiuperspectives.economist.com/talent-education/education-2030

Competitions where application of theory occurs

Confucius also said, The essence of knowledge is:
having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your
ignorance. Competitions offer young people an
interactive learning experience, a chance to share
innovative ideas, recognize what they dont know and
appreciate each others talent and contribution.
To challenge young learners and provide them with a
platform to demonstrate what they know, LEAD
collaborates with primary and secondary schools
across the territory, encouraging participation in local
and oversea competitions. This is the second focus of
its work and the competitions include the Hong Kong
FLL Robotics Tournament, the Hong Kong Student
Science Project Competition, the Hong Kong
GreenMech Contest, the Creative Coder Competition
and the Hong Kong 4D Frame Maths & Science
Creativity Competition.

Gathering STEAM at LEAD

Hong Kong schools face a challenge: how to ensure that
pupils stay ahead and become well equipped for the
future job market. Demand is rising for non-routine,
analytical and technical skills that are little taught before
tertiary level. Even then, many such skills are taught
only in vocational training centres. Therefore, LEAD
lab will add another dimension to STEM. By including
elements of art and design, STEM education is
transformed into STEAM, drawing on applied design
principles and encouraging practical, creative solutions.
This integrated, interdisciplinary approach brings the
sciences and the arts together and shows students how to
make use of the skills and knowledge they learn in all
STEAM fields.
More on STEAM at edudemic.com/stem-vs-steam-why-the-amakes-all-the-difference/ and at steamedu.com/

48

Outstanding undergraduates in the innovation and

technology field may apply for the Innovation and
Technology Scholarship Award Scheme. Awardees have
the opportunity to gain industry experience with a
mentor while broadening their perspective on the
discipline studied.

Talent mentoring & exchange

where we connect with the world
The learning journey does not stop at competitions and
so the third part of LEADs work involves a range of
programmes to quench the thirst of talented young
people who want to go further. The Seeds Project, for
example, invites primary schools to nominate
outstanding pupils with a passion for science. 90
children are then given intensive science training to
encourage them to continue their exploration.

LEAD lab: coming soon

The LEAD lab will be headquartered in Quarry Bay and
will have six satellite labs in the community and in the
HKFYG primary and secondary schools in Tin Shui
Wai. The labs will give schools and families easy access
to a new way of STEM learning. The LEAD lab and its
satellites will provide the space, environment and
encouragement that young people need for innovative,
practical thinking, generating the culture of creative education
that creates the foundation of life-long learning through
Exploration
Experience
Creation
Sharing.
Stay tuned for further news from HKFYG of this
exciting new departure.
Stay tuned and LEAD !

Another example is the 1+1 Science Tip-top Talent

Scheme. Schools nominate groups of students aged 15 or
above to present science projects and share ideas with
others. Groups with the most feasible project ideas
receive subsidies of HK$12,000 to take their work
further under the instruction of a mentor, usually a
university lecturer.

More information lead.hkfyg.org.hk/

Enquiries Edmond Hui 3106 0600
49

HKFYG news

September 2016 | Youth Hong Kong

Awards for community service and

Hong Kong Youth Service Award 2016
Finalists to be announced soon
These awards, given since 2013, are open to 18-35 year-olds who are
committed to serving others with dedication and integrity, exemplifying
the true spirit of service to the community. Winners service record
reflect the core values and beliefs, including the commitment to Hong
Kong, and a willingness to contribute to Hong Kong.
Awards ceremony Tuesday 8 November 2016
Guest of Honour Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, JP, Secretary for Justice, HKSARG
Some past winners
Stanley Cheung Yun-hang was badly
burned in a hill fire when younger but is
now Director of the Kinetic Life
Training and Counselling Centre
nurturing others for positivity and
health. (Award winner 2014.)
Emmy Li Yuen-mei ophthalmologist,
uses her knowledge and skills to help
the poor, the elderly and those who
live on Comprehensive Social Security
Assistance. (Award winner 2013.)
Kenneth Ng Yiu-fai is a disabled IT
specialist and is convenor of
GIVERS, advocating volunteerism in
daily life, and founder of You Will
Succeed, a job-matching platform for
the disabled. (Award winner 2015.)

Carrie Tang launched DreamMag, a

journal with stories of young people in
pursuit of their dreams. Then she realized
her own childhood dream by setting up the
"Go Inside" caf, employing deaf staff thus
enabling their better integration in society.
(Award winner 2014.)
Walter Tsui Yu-hang is the visually
impaired cofounder of CareER (Care
in Education and Recruitment) which
links disabled university graduates
with employers. (Award winner 2015.)
Kong Wan-ki established the Hong
Kong Sign Language Association with
her partner. Both of them have a
hearing impairment and work to
raise awareness of the needs of the
deaf. (Award winner 2014.)

Supporting Organization Home Affairs Bureau

Media Partners Hong Kong Economic Journal, M21
More details ysa.hkfyg.org.hk facebook.com/HKFYG.YSA
Enquiries Johnson Cheung 2169 0255

2015 winners including Kenneth Ng (centre) and Walter Tsui

50

youth entrepreneurship
HSBC Youth Business Award 2016 with new Innovative e-Business Award
Sole sponsor HSBC Commercial Banking
This award has been organized by HKFYG since 2011 to promote
entrepreneurship and recognize successful young Hong Kong entrepreneurs.
Winners have the best products or services, market positioning and
competitiveness, marketing and promotion tactics, management and business
strategies, finance and cost control.
Boaz International Education Institute
Special Education Needs (SEN) and Support

Support for reading, writing and speech therapy

Approved international Davis Dyslexia Correction Program
Parents talks and teacher training
Creote Studio Ltd
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology

Combination of ARVR messages with traditional products and services

WedCam platform for customers
Wedding invitation cards, photo albums and other wedding products
Master Archer Adventure activities and archery

Training with a psychologist and social workers; special trainers for SEN
students
Combines experiential learning and active progress reviews
Main customers: schools, youth centres, commercial institutions
Monica Tsang Designs Ltd Ceramic design and sales

Combines traditional and modern ceramic techniques

Introduces modern design elements
Provides tailor-made services for well-known HK restaurants, hotels and
brands

More PR & Marketing Ltd One-stop marketing services

Advertisements, social media, marketing plans, press releases etc

Combines traditional PR and online marketing for brands
Main strength: female market with online reach to 3 million+ readers
Vote online for your favourite finalist

ybhk2.hkfyg.org.hk/ybaward2016/en/home/index.php

VOTING ends 10 October

More details ybhk.hkfyg.org.hk/ybaward2016

51

Publisher :
The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups

hkfyg.org.hkm21.hk

Youth Hong Kong: 21/F, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups Building, 21 Pak Fuk Road, North Point, Hong Kong
Tel : 3755 70843755 7108Fax : 3755 7155Email : youthhongkong@hkfyg.org.hkWebsite : youthhongkong.hkfyg.org.hk

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