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`Scoop Weekly' conundrum highlights privacy concerns

A pornographic VCD published by Scoop Weekly (獨家報導), which allegedly featured former New Party Taipei City Councilor Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳) and her married lover, last week highlighted the public's concern about privacy issues.

Human right groups say that Taiwan needs more laws to protect privacy. Lawmakers, however, have had little to say.

A judge from the Taipei District Court who wished to remain anonymous told the Taipei Times that this case is very controversial.

"For Chu, it has violated her human rights and privacy," he said.

"For the media, however, Scoop Weekly's publisher Shen Yeh (沈野) said that he was protecting the freedom of the press. But the freedom of the press should not be unlimited. It is quite difficult to find the balance between these two principles."

Chen Mei-hua (陳美華), secretary-general of the Awakening Foundation (婦女新知), said that currently in Taiwan, people's privacy is not protected at all, especially minorities.

"Take teenage prostitutes, lesbians and gays for example," said Chen.

"Taiwanese society is still more conservative than the Western world. Many people are curious about these minorities. However, beyond satiating their curiosity, it seems that nobody cares about the privacy of these people. Rather than creating more laws, people need to learn the value of human rights and privacy and they should also learn to respect them."

Kenneth Chiu (邱晃泉), a senior lawyer and convener of the Free Human Rights Union (自由人權聯盟), said that even if Taiwan lacks sufficient laws to protect privacy, law enforcement officials can alleviate the problem by cracking down on illegal VCDs or videos shot by hidden cameras.

"Prosecutors and officers from the Government Information Office (新聞局) have the power and they should take advantage of it," said Chiu.

Chung Yung-sheng (鍾永盛), Chu's lawyer, pointed out that there are indeed regulations in the Criminal Code (刑法) and the Civil Code (民法) which could protect people from privacy violations.

"For example, Article 315-2 of the Criminal Code makes illegal the violation of a person's privacy for profit, such as using hidden cameras to tape women in public restrooms and later selling the footage," Chung said.

"Also, Article 235 makes illegal the distribution or sale of indecent material. Article 310 covers criminal libel. Article 306 makes it illegal to break into private households, vehicles and ocean-going vessels without authorization. As for the Civil Code, Article 18 protects a person's human rights, such as the right to privacy. Article 195 allows someone to bring a suit for emotional damages caused by another party," he said.

Judicial Yuan President Weng Yueh-sheng (翁岳生) indicated that protecting people's privacy has become a focus of international attention.

"It has become an important issue that many countries in the world are working on," said Weng. "We did have laws regarding human rights and privacy but a lot of people aren't familiar with these laws."

In the past, police raids in hotel rooms were regarded as a violation of human rights as well as privacy. Approximately a week ago, the Council of Grand Justices (大法官會議) said that the police can no longer conduct these raids without a search warrant.

According to the interpretation by the grand justices, the police can only proceed with their raids when the person or location is "endangering" other people or national security.

"Once a hotel room is rented, the room belongs to the client. The police do not have the right to raid the room without a search warrant," said Wang Chin-wang (王進旺), director-general of the National Police Administration (警政署).

"Actually, the grand justices' explanation of the Constitution is helping the police protect human rights and privacy."

Huang Cheng-yi (黃丞儀), a graduate student at the Law Department of National Taiwan University, wrote an article for a Chinese-language newspaper on Dec. 21, which said that when law enforcement's priorities are weighed against human rights and privacy considerations, women and minorities almost always lose.

"Take Chu's case for example," Huang wrote in her article. "Many people think that the judiciary will help Chu find the person ultimately responsible for the scandal. However, once prosecutors begin the investigation, she will become a witness instead of a victim. As a witness, she will have to attend the trial and answer questions from the prosecutors, judges and the defendant's lawyer. She will be forced to tell a story which will embarrass her in public whether she wins the case or not. So, will the judiciary give her justice? I guess not."
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