Lawmakers across party lines yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC) to quickly draft a digital communications act to address increasing Internet fraud and other issues as they reviewed the nominees for three NCC commissioner positions at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
The Executive Yuan nominated National Chung Cheng University law professor Want Jiang-jia (王正嘉), Taiwan Institute of Economic Research associate research fellow Wang Yi-hui (王怡惠) and NCC Chief Secretary Chen Chung-shu (陳崇樹) to succeed three current NCC commissioners whose terms expire on July 31.
Lawmakers at the meeting asked the three nominees about their positions on issues the commission has been addressing recently, from controversies involving Mirror TV and broadcaster Chinese Television System, proposed mergers of telecoms and the development of low-orbit satellite systems.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Several legislators spoke of the urgency of passing a draft of a digital communications act, which they said is key to addressing problems such as Internet fraud, spreading of misinformation, and unauthorized distribution of private or fabricated images.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) told lawmakers that the commission would present a draft act to the public by the end of next month after consulting with other government agencies and industry experts.
The commission had in 2016 presented the first draft of the digital communication act. However, it was a basic law and did not impose penalties on platform operators, the chairman said.
“Cyberspace has undergone a dramatic change in the past five years. The EU and other advanced countries have introduced laws to regulate online activity,” he said.
The version of the digital communications draft act that the commission is to present next month would outline the responsibilities of digital platforms and specify enforcement mechanisms, he said.
For its draft, the commission examined the EU Digital Services Act, passed by the European Parliament last month, which makes large technology firms responsible for deleting illegal content, he said.
Chen Chung-shu said the commission has had to handle the draft act carefully, as it would need to cover restricted access to some content that requires discussions with other government agencies.
The committee granted preliminary approval to the three commissioner nominees, whose names are to be put to a vote at a plenary session before the end of this month following negotiations between Democratic Progressive Party legislators and opposition lawmakers.
It also passed a temporary motion requiring the Executive Yuan to send the draft act to the Legislative Yuan to be deliberated at the next legislative session.
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