A man surnamed Chiang (江) is facing charges of personal privacy violations and offenses against sexual morality (妨害風化罪) for allegedly collecting and posting images of students on a Web site called Uniform Map.
Chiang, 43, was detained for questioning yesterday by New Taipei City’s criminal investigation unit after New Taipei City Councilor Huang Shu-chun (黃淑君) filed a complaint, saying many young people asked for her help after they found unauthorized pictures of themselves on the Web site.
“They ranged from elementary-school students to senior-high schoolers. Most of them were girls,” Huang said, adding that the number of victims could be close to 1,000 students.
Photo courtesy of New Taipei Councilor Huang Shu-chun
Police said they found that Uniform Map, established by Chiang in 2013, had a big following, with at least 100,000 members across Taiwan, and that the Web site had images of boys and girls dressed in their school uniforms.
Some of the photos were allegedly “stolen,” or downloaded to be posted on social media, they said, adding that images of underage students would get passed around and circulated on other digital platforms and messaging apps without the person’s permission.
Those actions contravene laws protecting copyright, Huang said.
Some pictures also border on indecency or could be deemed sexual content, she added.
After several people filed for a judicial complaint, police tracked down Chiang, seized his computer and electronics, and confiscated his data files to prevent further leaking of personal photos, Huang said.
Police said Chiang told them he owned the Web site, but denied that he had collected indecent images or sexual content. He said he was unaware he had contravened copyright laws.
Chiang is also facing charges of breaching the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), police said.
Uniform Map also has images of students in uniform from other countries. Most photos are of young female students in short skirts.
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