Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday vented his anger about civil servants believed to be involved in leaking personal information to organized crime syndicates during the new Cabinet's first weekly meeting. He requested the government agencies concerned to mete out punishment to the culprits within 10 days.
"How do you expect people not to get angry over this? And how do you expect people to continue to trust the government if we don't handle this matter appropriately?" Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (
PHOTO: AFP
Although the premier recognized that the transportation ministry and the privatized Chunghwa Telecom Co (
"If any existing rules require overhauling, [the agencies] are duty bound to present legal provisions immediately to curb similar occurrences in the future," Yu said.
One of the laws that need to be revamped is the Law for the Protection of Computer-managed Personal Information (電腦處理個人資料保護法).
The Ministry of Justice sent draft amendments to the law to the Cabinet this month, in an effort to make it more effective.
First of all, the law would cover all kinds of personal information which should be deemed private and deserved protection. Rules now protect only personal information which is managed, processed, stored or distributed by computers.
In addition, groups enjoying the prerogative to obtain personal information would have that revoked. Under legislation now, workers in eight professional fields are allowed to collect personal information for business purposes. These eight professions are: Private detective agencies, banks, hospitals, schools, telecom and Internet service providers, insurance companies, the media and stock-exchange companies.
The law also mandates that victims filing a privacy-invasion suit against a person or company must produce evidence to prove that the person or company leaked classified information, such as their name, annual income, phone number or address, to a third party without their authorization.
Yu made the remarks in response to a criminal case brought on Tuesday by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office, in which 32 civil servants and civilians were arrested for their connection in leaking 2 million entries of illegally obtained personal information.
Capping the one-year investigation, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office found that an organized crime syndicate headed by Hsiao Ron-hsiung (蕭榮祥) in 1995 started to bribe law enforcement officers, coast guard patrol examiners, Chunghwa Telecom Co and private telecommunication company employees to obtain personal information such as home telephone numbers, mobile phone numbers, household registration, car registration and bank accounts.
Hsiao then sold the illegally obtained information to other crime rings and individuals, including lawmakers, police officers and credit information office employees.
Meanwhile, media attention yesterday focused on Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma, who asked for personal leave to attend a flood control meeting hosted by the city, failed to designate his proxy to attend the Cabinet meeting.
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