Law enforcement officials expressed their opposition yesterday to a decision by the Ministry of the Interior to do away with a requirement that all citizens be fingerprinted for identification cards.
"Fingerprinting is the most accurate method of checking someone's identity. With [fingerprint] records we can easily track suspects," said Deputy Commissioner Lin Kuo-tung (林國楝) of the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Lin made his comments yesterday at a forum entitled "What is wrong with fingerprinting the entire nation?"
In 1997 it was announced that all citizens over the age of 14, under the Household Registration Law, would be required to have their fingerprints on record when issued a national identification card.
The policy has never been implemented, however, because of opposition and internal governmental delays.
Some critics of the policy, which would cost some NT$2 billion to implement, say it would violate individual human rights and an individual's right to privacy.
Liu Chuo-guo (劉佐國) from the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Justice, however, said that fingerprinting has little to do with personal privacy.
Liu said that violations of a person's privacy fall into four categories: interfering with others' daily lives; publicizing personal information; slandering an individual or using someone's name and reputation for commercial purposes.
"I personally do not think the fingerprinting plan is a violation of the right to privacy," Liu said.
Another official from the ministry agreed that fingerprinting is crucial in criminal investigations.
"Almost all prosecutors have cases with unidentified corpses, [fingerprinting] would help us figure out who's who," said Chief Prosecutor Hung Kwang-hsuan (
However, both Hung and Liu said that the use of a fingerprint database should be restricted.
Chuang Tyng-ruey (
He added that he was opposed to the mixing of issues like criminal investigation and household administration.
Chuang also doubted that fingerprinting could help solve crimes.
"With unidentified bodies, fingerprints may have decayed and cannot be identified; for juvenile delinquency, adolescents under 14 years of age will not be fingerprinted, so how can it help with those investigations," Chuang said.
Chuang said if the measure were implemented, he would choose not to re-register his ID card and said he believes many citizens would do the same.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights announced recently that if the plan were implemented, they would launch a campaign that would urge individuals not to re-register their ID cards.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique