Two employees of Tsung Chen Technologies (TC Tech) accused of violating the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) had their indictments delayed by the Shilin District Court yesterday because they cooperated with prosecutors and their actions did not endanger national security, while a third employee will not face charges.
A police patrol in August last year came across a man, later identified as a TC Tech assistant, sitting in a parking lot with an antenna pointed toward a military radar station near the Xiaoyoukeng Recreation Area on Yangmingshan (陽明山) in Taipei, the court said.
Ministry of National Defense personnel sent to the parking lot to investigate determined that the equipment was manufactured by National Instruments and was capable of detecting, analyzing and recording spectrum measurements.
Photo reproduced by Huang Chieh, Taipei Times
The assistant and two TC Tech officials at the scene, a manager surnamed Lin (林) and an engineer surnamed Hsu (許), were placed under investigation for suspected treason, while the equipment, valued at NT$2 million (US$66,664 at the current exchange rate), was taken by the military for examination.
After a year of analyzing the data recorded on the machine, the military said unique signals of multiple military transmissions had been recorded as the users signal-hopped between frequencies.
Prosecuors said the equipment had been placed at the exact location where it could pick up military transmissions, but the information recorded was not of sensitivity that it threatened the government or could incite social unrest.
For that reason, prosecutors said they charged the trio with contravening the act, but not with treason.
Lin and Hsu said TC Tech was bidding for a contract to procure radio equipment for the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and they were simply testing the equipment, but they pleaded guilty to contravening the law, the court said.
The assistant said he had only set up the equipment under Lin and Hsu’s instructions and did not know what they wanted to use it for, the court said.
As there is no proof that Lin and Hsu had divulged any of the recorded information to China or other nations, and they cooperated with authorities, the court decided to not to indict them at this time.
However, the court reminded the public that such acts could be punishable by up to five years in prison.
It also called on individuals and companies not to try to monitor electronic signals from military facilities.
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