The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) and the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) yesterday expressed their regrets over the revision of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), saying the revision was passed too hastily and without a thorough public discussion.
The legislature adopted an amendment to the Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Act (電腦處理個人資料保護法) on Tuesday, changing the name of the law to the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and requiring people to obtain the consent of individuals before collecting or publishing information about them, including their name, date of birth, ID number, occupation, medical records, genetic information and details about their sex life.
However, the media are exempt from the rule when they are acting in the public interest.
In a statement released yesterday, the TAHR said the amendment allowed too many exceptions from obtaining consent.
“In the revised Personal Data Protection Act, government and non-government organizations or individuals may be exempt from the rule for ‘proper reasons,’ making obtaining personal consent only one of the requirements [for collecting or publishing personal information], which defeats the purpose of the law,” the statement said.
“In addition, it fails to define what ‘proper reasons’ are, leaving loopholes for government or non-governmental organizations and individuals to justify their collection of personal information according to their own reasons,” the statement said.
The statement added the revised law fails to designate a government agency to be responsible for the matter, making it easy for different agencies to dodge responsibility when problems occur.
“We regret that the revised law, which has sparked many controversies, was not fully discussed by the public and was hastily passed,” the statement said. “We still have a long way to go to achieve genuine protection of personal information.”
The ATJ also said in a statement that some parts of the revision were too vague.
In its statement, the ATJ said that while the revised law permits collecting normally accessible personal data and publishing the information in the public interest, it does not define what “public interests” are, or under which circumstances the information can be collected and published.
“When the law becomes effective, it would likely be up to the government and the courts to define such conditions, which would give too much power to the authorities and may cause disputes,” the ATJ statement said. “It would also make everyone a possible target of lawsuits filed by individuals or groups.”
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