The National Communications Commission (NCC) is not pushing a controversial draft digital intermediary service act to the Legislative Yuan, the commission said yesterday, adding that suggested changes to the bill are welcome.
“The draft act has yet to be finalized by NCC commissioners, and has not been delivered to the Executive Yuan or the Legislative Yuan for further review. Therefore, there is no need to withdraw it,” the commission said in a statement.
“Issues related to the Internet are complicated and often come under close scrutiny. The NCC is open to any suggestion from the public,” it added.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The commission issued the statement following calls from politicians and media experts to drop the draft, which they said could impede online speech freedoms by expanding the government’s authority to flag content.
Some Chinese-language news outlets said the NCC was aggressively pushing the bill regardless of problems identified by civic groups, media experts and industry specialists in three information sessions that the commission has held so far.
The NCC on Friday said it would postpone a public hearing on the draft that was initially scheduled for Thursday, saying “it needs time to thoroughly research, analyze and discuss a variety of issues that were raised at the information sessions.”
“We will resume our communication with the public after making improvements to the draft,” it added.
The draft that it presented to the public on June 29 is a proposal to generate input, the NCC said.
Suggested changes to the draft are to be cautiously assessed, it said, adding it did not push for passage of the first draft of the act, as some have claimed.
“We will continue to listen to opinions from all stakeholders, such as the types of intermediary service providers that should be regulated and how they should be regulated,” it said, adding that postponing Thursday’s public hearing was necessary.
“As an independent agency, we understand that any policy will not be well-rounded and complete without coordination and communication with the Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan and civil society,” it said.
The draft act was proposed to outline ways to handle problems that have arisen from a rapid development of Internet services, it said.
Cybercrimes — including non-consensual photo sharing, Internet fraud and disinformation — have hurt Taiwanese, particularly women and children, it said.
“We drafted the digital intermediary service act based on the EU’s Digital Services Act. It is our hope that the rights of Internet users can be protected by building an accountability mechanism comprising service providers, the public and the government,” the commission said.
“Freedom of speech is a constitutionally protected right in Taiwan, and its most treasured asset, and we need to carefully tread a fine line between protecting free speech and curbing cybercrimes. Rational discussion among stakeholders is conducive to a feasible policy,” it said.
The commission on Friday also said it would take into account the needs of intermediary service providers who are socially responsible but have problems fulfilling obligations the commission stipulated due to relatively small operating budgets.
Obligations for nonprofit or smaller service providers could be waived or eased, the commission said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS