The appellant was a journalist in Mainland China who was convicted of the crime of illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities outside the People’s Republic of China. The verdict of the Mainland court indicated that the appellant used his personal email account with Yahoo! China to send secret information overseas, and that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. furnished his accountholder information to the Mainland authorities. The appellant complained that the disclosure of this information was in breach of the personal data protection principle under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. The board found that the IP log-in information provided by the Beijing management team, even when coupled with other information disclosed, did not constitute ‘personal data’ of the appellant, as neither the email address nor the IP address ex facie revealed the identity of the appellant.