The Banciao District (板橋) branch of the well-known cosmetic chain Airlee Group Co Ltd (愛爾麗集團) was recently found to have installed a hidden pinhole camera inside a smoke detector, which has so far led to the discovery of other hidden cameras in at least four other cosmetic clinics.
Airlee chairman Chang Ju-shan (常如山) and two others have been detained and held incommunicado on suspicion of committing sexual privacy violations, offenses against privacy and contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) by filming patients without their consent. The incident has highlighted the urgent need for more explicit legal regulations surrounding the installation of surveillance cameras in medical facilities.
Under Article 319 of the Criminal Code, a person who “takes photos, videos, electromagnetic records, or uses other technological means to record sexual images of the victims without consent” may be sentenced to imprisonment of up to three years. However, this offense is prosecutable only upon complaint — in other words, prosecutors may pursue charges only if the victim files a formal complaint.
Article 2 of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) includes people’s medical records and healthcare data as “personal data,” and Article 41 of the same act stipulates that the unauthorized collection, processing or use of such personal data “with intent to obtain unlawful benefit for themselves or a third party or to cause harm to another’s interests” can result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$31,722).
Unlike the Criminal Code offenses listed above, contravention of the Personal Data Protection Act is a non-complaint-based offense, meaning prosecutors are required to initiate prosecution even without a formal complaint from the victim. Furthermore, if the victim of the illicit recording is under the age of 18, Article 36 of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act classifies the conduct as a serious offense punishable by a prison sentence of one to seven years.
However, the criminal provisions concerning contraventions of personal data protection laws expressly include the phrase “without justification.”
In other words, if a clinic’s use of hidden cameras to record patients can be justified by a lawful and legitimate purpose, it is possible to avoid criminal liability.
When considering the validity of the reason provided, it is essential to weigh whether the infringement involved is appropriate, necessary and proportionate in relation to the protected legal interests.
In the case of cosmetic clinics installing pinhole cameras, such devices are often used to preserve evidence in the event of future disputes or litigation.
While this practice might be framed as a way to protect patients’ rights and interests, it is really about self-protection — namely, defensive medicine.
However, when patients are not informed about recording practices in advance, both their bodily and health-related privacy are completely stripped away.
Once an incident occurs, not only must the patient involved endure the psychological stress of wondering whether the footage has been leaked, but the public trust in cosmetic clinics and medical professionals might also collapse entirely. Therefore, using the protection of patients’ interests as a justification to avoid criminal liability is clearly untenable.
Medical facilities are generally considered to be public spaces that can be seen or accessed by many people. However, once one enters a consultation room, operating room or hospital ward, they fall within the scope of patient privacy. Moreover, filming is not itself a medical act; therefore, the installation of surveillance cameras requires prior notification and consent from the patient or their family.
However, because the boundary between public and private space in medical facilities remains unclear, existing Ministry of Health and Welfare guidelines are vague and lack binding legal force.
Legislators should establish clear principles under the Medical Care Act (醫療法) and authorize the ministry to draft enforceable regulations for medical institutions.
Wu Ching-chin is a professor in Aletheia University’s Department of Law and director of its Criminal Law Research Center.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
From the Iran war and nuclear weapons to tariffs and artificial intelligence, the agenda for this week’s Beijing summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is packed. Xi would almost certainly bring up Taiwan, if only to demonstrate his inflexibility on the matter. However, no one needs to meet with Xi face-to-face to understand his stance. A visit to the National Museum of China in Beijing — in particular, the “Road to Rejuvenation” exhibition, which chronicles the rise and rule of the Chinese Communist Party — might be even more revealing. Xi took the members
A Pale View of Hills, a movie released last year, follows the story of a Japanese woman from Nagasaki who moved to Britain in the 1950s with her British husband and daughter from a previous marriage. The daughter was born at a time when memories of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War II and anxiety over the effects of nuclear radiation still haunted the community. It is a reflection on the legacy of the local and national trauma of the bombing that ended the period of Japanese militarism. A central theme of the movie is the need, at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Friday used their legislative majority to push their version of a special defense budget bill to fund the purchase of US military equipment, with the combined spending capped at NT$780 billion (US$24.78 billion). The bill, which fell short of the Executive Yuan’s NT$1.25 trillion request, was passed by a 59-0 margin with 48 abstentions in the 113-seat legislature. KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), who reportedly met with TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) for a private meeting before holding a joint post-vote news conference, was said to have mobilized her
Before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) can blockade, invade, and destroy the democracy on Taiwan, the CCP seeks to make the world an accomplice to Taiwan’s subjugation by harassing any government that confers any degree of marginal recognition, or defies the CCP’s “One China Principle” diktat that there is no free nation of Taiwan. For United States President Donald Trump’s upcoming May 14, 2026 visit to China, the CCP’s top wish has nothing to do with Trump’s ongoing dismantling of the CCP’s Axis of Evil. The CCP’s first demand is for Trump to cease US
RSS