The nation needs to deal with new forms of digital crimes by providing law enforcement agencies with tools powered by new technologies, a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) official said yesterday in defense of a draft “technological investigation act.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members and some legal experts have condemned the draft act as going backward and infringing on personal privacy rights.
The KMT caucus in a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei called on its members to block the draft act, saying that the government is heading for authoritarian rule and is violating the basic rights of its citizens.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The proposed law could also be used as a tool for political persecution, it said.
“We are worried about pervasive surveillance of interpersonal communications. People will live under constant surveillance by the government’s judicial agencies. We believe there is no need for this draft act,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Yi-hua (林奕華) said.
“The limitations must be defined clearly, even on investigating criminal cases, and the main principle should be minimal infringement of personal privacy,” Judicial Reform Foundation chairman Joseph Lin (林永頌) said.
The goals for the draft act can be achieved by amending the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法), he added.
Department of Prosecutorial Affairs Deputy Director Lee Hao-sung (李濠松) told the news conference that the draft act is needed to keep up with new technologies.
“We can review its provisions and make adjustments, as our ministry has the obligation to consult with the public, in line with the government’s insistence on openness and transparency,” Lee said.
“The draft act is aimed at criminals. It is not to be used on the general public, nor will it be used in investigating political cases,” he said.
“We have to deal with new forms of digital crimes in cyberspace, so we need new ways of investigation,” Lee said.
He cited a case from 2017 in which a Coast Guard Administration official installed a GPS tracking device on a boat to investigate allegations of drug smuggling, but was sued by the defendants.
The Supreme Court eventually convicted the official for violating personal privacy, he added.
“It has been found that most of the communications for selling illegal drugs are done through [the messaging app] Line,” Lee said. “However, Line Corp is an Internet service company, not a telecom, and does not have telecommunications hardware equipment on which to install a wiretap. Therefore, under current law, judicial investigators are not permitted to listen in on Line conversations, or see its content.”
“Under the draft act, our ministry would assess varying needs for surveillance. In cases involving lesser infringements of privacy, we could authorize prosecutors for an investigation. For those with more severe infringements, we would need to obtain approval from a court,” he said.
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
TIME FOR CHANGE: Most of those at a public hearing organized by the DPP’s Chung Chia-pin also agreed that the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished Taiwan needs a new constitution, as the current one was adopted in Nanjing in 1946, when the Republic of China (ROC) represented all of China, while the Control Yuan and Examination Yuan should be abolished, legal experts and academics said yesterday during a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Chang Kun-sheng (張錕盛), a law professor and secretary-general of the Taiwan Administrative Law Association, said that it is time to draft a new constitution. The ROC Constitution was adopted during a National Constituent Assembly meeting in Nanjing shortly after World War II and before the Chinese Civil War had fully erupted,
The COVID-19 pandemic might not have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, China, National Taiwan University College of Public Health professor Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. While many countries are experiencing second waves of COVID-19 infections, many are also lifting lockdowns to revive their economies, allowing travelers to cross national borders, Chen said. Academics have been questioning whether genetic mutations in the novel coronavirus in different countries have made it more infectious, he added. Academics from different backgrounds have conducted phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences, he said, adding that the studies can help scientists understand how the virus spread among
RSS