Hotel and restaurant owners would be required to regularly search their premises for hidden cameras under a law proposed by PFP and DPP legislators yesterday.
"We must do something," the PFP's Li Yong-ping (李永萍) said at a press conference to promote the passage of the Unauthorized Filming Prevention Law (偷拍防制法).
"Hidden cameras are more and more advanced nowadays. You cannot imagine how small they can be and where they will be.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a law to protect innocent people who might become the main characters in videos shot by hidden camera."
The new law would require the owners of locations frequented by the public, such as restaurants, hotels and shops, to carry out regular security checks and search for hidden cameras seruptitiously mounted by voyeurs.
According to the new law, owners who fail to provide records of these security checks to the government could be fined from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000.
Li said that voyeurism was proliferating in Taiwan, especially following the sex-VCD scandal involving New Party politician Chu Mei-feng (
Some voyeurs even sell videos of what they secretly shoot in public, she said.
Innocent men or women are increasingly becoming victims to the voyeurs, who shoot videos without their consent, violating their privacy and human rights, Li said.
Asked why the owners of places such as restaurants and hotels were the main "targets" of the new law, Li said that given the level of public activity at these establishments, they should be held responsible for protecting their customers' privacy.
"If they cooperate with law enforcement agencies, it will be a great help in protecting Taiwanese citizens' privacy and human rights," she said.
According to Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國), another PFP lawmaker, the Home and Nations Committee had been discussing the matter and trying to find a solution by amending the Architecture Law (建築法). This law could be used to require property owners to check their premises for hidden cameras when they apply for licenses or convert private dwellings into commercial property, Pang said.
"We finally decided to make a new law for this problem exclusively," said Pang. "We need a detailed regulation, which cannot be achieved by simply amending the Architecture Law."
He added that it was up to government and property-owners to provide customers with a safe environment.
The task force promoting the law also includes PFP lawmakers Chao Liang-yen (
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS