Asia Sentinel Boon to money-launderers or privacy issue? Apr 9 By: Tim Hamlett It would be nice to think the Hong Kong government had stumbled into its recently-announced decision to protect the identities of businesspeople in the Companies Registry out of a well-intentioned effort to protect them from doxing, the practice of exposing identities without permission. But there is an old saying in military circles: if something bad happens once it is a misfortune; twice is a coincidence; three times is enemy action. The attempt to curb access to the Companies Registry comes soon after the prosecution of an investigative journalist for using information about vehicle registration supplied to the public by the Transport Department to identify the masked perpetrators of attacks on pro-democracy demonstrators in 2019. That was followed by the news that court sheets are to be purged of the identifying details of defendants and other participants, including the prosecutor. This will be a serious impediment to the proper coverage of trials.