Security News > 2021 > July > Hong Kong working to share its digital IDs with mainland China
Hong Kong's Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has revealed that the territory is investigating the use of its digital ID in mainland China.
In a Q&A, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Mr Alfred Sit, said "The OGCIO is exploring with relevant authorities in the Mainland and Macao the collaboration opportunities between their identity authentication systems and iAM Smart."
iAM Smart is a marketing abbreviation for "Internet Access by Mobile in a Smart way".
Secretary Sit said opportunities to use iAM Smart across borders include "Mutual recognition of electronic signature certificates to promote cross-boundary e-commerce applications, facilitating Hong Kong citizens to use iAM Smart to log in different online services, conduct online transactions, and perform digital signing with legal backing."
Since launch, iAM Smart has seen over 600,000 registrations.
While "Cross-boundary e-commerce applications" might seem innocuous, the sharing of data with mainland China may raise eyebrows given Beijing's progressively tightening grip on Hong Kong.