The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) has terminated access to a forum Web site from which television presenter Mickey Huang (黃子佼) is reported to have downloaded videos of minors being sexually abused.
The Taiwan Network Information Center terminated the domain of Chuangyi Sifang (創意私房), after an administrative order was received on Wednesday from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), MODA said in a statement late on Thursday.
The center, whose supervising authority is the digital ministry, manages domain names ending with .tw and Internet protocol (IP) addresses in Taiwan.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
MODA said that the site’s domain name was terminated due to its contravention of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) and the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害犯罪防治法).
MODA also requested that Internet access providers block people from accessing content from the Web site.
During a legislative committee hearing earlier in the day, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said the center was unable to ascertain whether a Web site is legal and can only terminate the domain name if an order is issued from a relevant authority, including a court.
Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said that local governments could ask online platform operators to take down any Web site found to contain illegal sexual images and issue a fine if such action is not carried out.
As a last resort, local governments could ask the center to block the Web site, she said, adding that prosecutors could also suspend a domain name pending a criminal investigation.
As the MOHW is one of the agencies in charge of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, she said it issued the order due to the severity of the case.
The health ministry’s response comes after lawmakers accused the government of being slow to block access to illegal content on the Web site.
In related news on Wednesday, a former police officer, surnamed Liu (劉), was given a 22-month prison sentence by the Taipei District Court after he was found guilty of obtaining sexual images of underaged children and selling them online for an estimated profit of NT$50,000 via the Chuangyi Sifang forum Web site between Dec. 23, 2017 and July 28, 2018.
During raids on Huang’s residence and studio last year, police seized seven sexually explicit videos involving minors, which the presenter purchased online between Aug. 8, 2017 and July 8 last year. Huang allegedly got the videos from Chuangyi Sifang, local media said.
The National Science and Technology Council on Thursday said that it would convene a team consisting of digital and child rights experts to look into how digital transmission of illegal sexually explicit videos could be stopped effectively with new technologies.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) said during a legislative hearing that in response to digital sexual violence and child sexual abuse, there is a need for the council to support research into artificial intelligence technologies that could stop the transmission of illegal sexually explicit videos.
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