A proposal by the Ministry of Justice that would allow authorities to obtain data from a suspect’s electronic devices and use GPS or aerial cameras to track their location is an infringement of a person’s right to privacy, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators said yesterday.
The proposed act would make for controversial law enforcement practices, including wiretapping, using GPS to track a person’s location, and surveillance of use of mobile phones and messaging apps, KMT Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) said.
The Democratic Progressive Party has repeatedly accused China of human rights breaches, but it is doing the same thing, Lee said.
The ministry presented the proposal on Wednesday, which would authorize official investigators to hack into a suspect’s mobile phone, tablet or computer to obtain evidence.
Investigators would be able to access a suspect’s phone conversations and messaging apps if a court approves the surveillance.
The proposal would also allow police to use GPS and aerial cameras to track a suspect, and these records can serve as evidence in court trials.
Due to privacy concerns, it could only be used in crimes that are punishable by at least three years in prison and investigators would need a court warrant.
Article 5 of the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) states that an interception warrant can be issued when there is sufficient evidence that a suspect is involved in crimes that “may severely endanger national security, economic order or social order, and that there is reasonable belief that the content of his or her communication is relevant to the case being investigated, and that it is difficult or there are no other methods to collect or investigate the evidence,” Lee said.
It seems like the ministry proposed the law to circumvent the barriers to communication interception stated in the act, she added.
KMT Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said the proposed law would give indefinite investigation power to prosecutors, who would be able to secretly monitor anyone suspected of being implicated in a crime.
The surveillance data would be stored in public agencies, but no one knows when the data would be used or deleted, she said.
The ministry should not rush to introduce such a law, she added.
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