First published: 12th June 2010
Less than two days after its launch, the memorial.gov.hk website was used to publish a memorial to the casualties of the June 4th Tiananmen Square crackdown in the name of deceased Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) chairman Ma Lik. The page was removed within hours of its creation. The DAB is well-known for pro-Beijing views, and it is unlikely that Ma Lik would have approved of this use of his name.
The memorial website was launched on Wednesday 9th June by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) for the public to, "pay tribute and show condolence to their beloved ones at any time, and from anywhere". According to the site, "friends and relatives" may create a memorial webpage of any deceased person cremated in government crematoria or buried in public cemeteries in Hong Kong. At the launch, FEHD director Cheuk Wing-hing admitted that he could not discount the possibility of the website being used as a tool for practical jokes, but public services should not be stopped because of fear of setbacks.
The reason for the removal of the Ma Lik page has not been fully explained by the FEHD. The terms and conditions do say that services may be withdrawn if "a user provides untrue information, uploads infringing information or publicises abusive (or other types stated at paragraphs 9 and 10 below) message", and:
9. Users are responsible for all content that they post on or transmit through "memorial.gov.hk". The following content is prohibited:
- content that infringes any intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party;
- content that is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
- content promoting or providing instructional information about illegal activities; and
- content that transmits or contains viruses, corrupted files, or any similar element.
But this does not preclude a page that is critical, not abusive, of the deceased. The registration process also does not require a declaration of relationship or friendship with the deceased. The terms and conditions do allow the Government to, "refuses[sic], moves, or removes any content", without any obligation to provide an explanation. Viewers of Ma Lik's short-lived page reported that it stated Ma Lik's identity was borrowed for the sins his political party had committed over the years.
DAB lawmaker Chan Kam-lam urged legal action against the "offenders", and DAB member Ip Kwok-him condemned the behaviour as disrespectful. Democrat lawmaker Fred Li Wah-ming said the website was a waste of manpower and resources and had little meaning, but the site has proved popular, with about 1000 memorial pages set up since Wednesday. These include memorials of local pop stars Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing and Anita Mui Yim-fong and footballer Wan Chi-keung.
The case highlights the difficulties of providing an easy-to-use, secure public online service, and of writing comprehensive terms and conditions. The FEHD was naive in its dismissal of the threat of practical jokes at the launch of the service, without considering the more serious issues of freedom of speech and control of a deceased person's public image. Being dead does not confer immunity to criticism in a free and democratic society, but there are also appropriate venues for praise and criticism. The FEHD could have avoided a political scuffle by making the boundaries clearer.