Freedom of speech does not include the right to purposefully inflict harm on victims of domestic abuse while hiding in anonymity, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said yesterday, one day after he had urged the closure of a bulletin board system on which people had accusations against DPP Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜), who is accusing her boyfriend of domestic abuse.
Freedom of speech and the diversity of opinions should be protected, and Taiwanese libel laws take this into account by giving special protection to criticism of public figures, Ho said.
However, insults based on events in public figures’ private lives are not protected, he said, adding that people who urge that intimate pictures of abuse victims be leaked are further traumatizing the victims.
Ho made the remarks to clarify earlier calls for the closure of the Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online bulletin board system.
“PTT should be shut down,” Ho said on Friday. “Reading PTT comments, I found nothing but vulgar language, description of male or female genitalia and fake stuff that cannot be verified.”
He made the remarks in connection with Kao’s accusations against her boyfriend Raphael Lin (林秉樞).
Mirror Media magazine on Tuesday reported that Lin had allegedly locked Kao up in a hotel room for two days and threatened to leak intimate images of her if she does not stay in a relationship with him.
An account on a PTT board named “Crazy Winnie” later posted claims about the incident, apparently trying to clear Lin of the allegations
PTT on Thursday banned the account for 10 years, saying that the person behind Crazy Winnie held multiple accounts.
A PTT moderator called “q347” urged users to save messages they had received from Crazy Winnie claiming that the account holder had sent private video footage of Kao to the authorities for investigation.
Additional reporting by Yang Hsin-hui
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS