The Ministry of the Interior has submitted bills to the Executive Yuan that would prevent foreign intervention in elections and ban people from using deepfake technology to sway election results.
The ministry has drafted amendments to Article 59 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and Article 58 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which the Cabinet plans to finalize tomorrow.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday invited Acting Minister of the Interior Hua Ching-chun (花敬群) to discuss the amendments.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Legislators generally agreed to disallow people with criminal convictions involving organized crime, money laundering, firearms or narcotics from running in national or local elections, Hua said, adding that he hopes the final versions proposed by the Executive Yuan would live up to the public’s expectations.
Under the amendments, people who have received suspended prison sentences would not be able to run in national or local elections while on probation.
The draft would disallow those who are convicted of contravening the Organized Crime Prevention Act (組織犯罪防制條例), the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), the Act Controlling Guns, Knives and Ammunition (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) or the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) from running in elections.
The ban would also apply to those who contravened acts related to national security, including the National Security Act (國家安全法), the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法) or the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法).
A person would not be able to register as a candidate if they are convicted of an offense with a minimum punishment of not less than seven years and are sentenced to at least 10 years in prison, the amendment says.
Media would be banned from accepting commissions from people or groups from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, and other nations to run advertisements for election or recall campaigns, it says, adding that the commissions and the punishment handed out would be published.
Penalties for those who distribute deepfake videos on television or the Internet designed to sway election or recall campaigns should be increased, it says.
When deepfake videos are found, police can ask platform service providers to take down or rectify the videos, it says.
The amendments would also comply with the regulations stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that legislators made some additional suggestions.
For example, some young people have been convicted of contravening the Money Laundering Control Act because they were framed, she said, adding that whether it would be appropriate to ban them from running for office their whole life should be further deliberated.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
RSS