First published: 30th April 2013
Yui Kee Chief Consultant Allan Dyer made a short appearance in a recent episode of The Pearl Report, a weekly public affairs program aired on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong.
The episode dealt with identity and privacy, particularly in relation to recent government proposals to remove some personal details of company directors from the Companies Registry and the more stringent rules for the use of personal data in marketing that took effect on 1st April. Dyer is seen from about 20:07, explaining his refusal to use his Hong Kong ID card number as an authenticator.
TVB contacted Dyer for an interview after finding a 2011 article from this newsletter. After viewing the finished program, Dyer commented, "I don't need the Privacy Commissioner telling me to treasure an authentication method that is fundamentally broken. There are alternatives, such as digital signatures. If a service provider does not offer a better method of remote authentication then it should be the user's decision to choose between bad remote authentication and inconvenient face-to-face authentication."