There have been reports that the Taiwan Telecommunication Industry Development Association has issued a letter to the Judicial Yuan, Control Yuan, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of National Defense and the Cabinet’s National Audit Office, saying that it would scrap the free-of-charge policy for providing communication records to judicial agencies, with fees to be implemented next year.
This runs counter to the trend of corporate governance that promotes corporate social responsibility.
When judges and prosecutors handle cases, they try to piece together information so that final verdicts are not made rashly based on insufficient evidence.
That being so, they sometimes have to request footage from public or private security cameras, and transaction details from financial institutions, as well as medical and communications records.
In particular, when investigating fraud or drugs cases, which has been the focus of a Cabinet crime-prevention project, they frequently need to check communications logs to clarify the movements and interpersonal networks of members of organized crime rings.
Public and private institutions have taken corporate social responsibility into consideration when providing communications records without charge.
District prosecutors’ offices have also followed the principle that the judiciary is for the people and never profited by pursuing of fees when working on criminal cases.
In other words, by placing social responsibility over personal gain, agencies have worked together, sharing resources to create a selfless judicial system.
If telecommunications companies begin to charge government agencies for communications records, then financial and medical institutions, convenience stores and land administration offices might follow suit. If that happens, judicial organs would have two options: Increase budgeting or make fewer such requests.
Even if they were to increase budgeting, if the funds for such services were spent by October, would that mean they would not be able to request communications logs for the rest of the year? If footage from a security camera were erased while an agency waited on funds, who should be responsible for the absence of evidence from a trial?
It is clear that competition in the telecommunications sector is high, but judicial interests are part of corporate social responsibility. It would not be wise to “kill the hen to get the eggs,” sacrificing judicial integrity for a tiny profit.
Who knows, the telecom association’s letter might mean that the response to a prosecutor’s request for communications records would be: “Please first pay the NT$1,000 fee at the cashier’s desk.”
In a free market, nobody should criticize a business for seeking a profit, but a business that also pursues sustainable management has the long-term vision of true entrepreneurship.
Chuang Chia-wei is a Changhua district prosecutor.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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