Hong Kong police can now legally demand passwords to your phone or laptop if they suspect you of breaching the city’s National Security Law—and refusing is a criminal offense. The new amendments, gazetted on Monday and bypassing the city’s legislature, took effect immediately. Anyone who refuses faces up to a year in prison and a fine of HK$100,000 (roughly $12,773). Give false information, and that jumps to three years behind bars and a HK$500,000 fine.
No judge needed—police can demand your passwords on the spot
The most alarming part for civil liberties advocates is the absence of any judicial oversight. Police don’t need a court order. They can demand device passwords, decryption keys, and any other “reasonable and necessary information or assistance” from a suspect. Customs officers also got expanded powers under the same amendments—they can now seize items deemed to carry “seditious intention,” even if nobody has been arrested yet.UK-based law lecturer Urania Chiu, who researches Hong Kong, called the new powers “grossly disproportionate,” saying they interfere with privacy rights and the right to a fair trial. The Hong Kong government, predictably, said the changes won’t affect ordinary people or businesses.
Hong Kong’s national security dragnet has already ensnared 386 people
Context matters here. The NSL—imposed by Beijing in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests—already punishes acts like subversion and foreign collusion with up to life imprisonment. Since then, 386 people have been arrested and 176 convicted under it. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in February alone. A second security law followed in 2024. The password amendment is the latest tightening of a regime that critics say has fundamentally reshaped civil liberties in what was once one of Asia’s most open cities.
