On its last day before recessing, the legislature yesterday approved revisions to the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) to toughen the rules governing the use of wiretaps.
The amendments were proposed in the wake of a controversy over wiretapping practices triggered by what became known as the “September strife” between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) last fall.
Among the changes approved yesterday was a requirement that prosecutors have to build a case for investigation based on certain allegations before they can apply for a court-approved wiretap order.
Another revision requires that court approval for a wiretap on a specific person be restricted to a warrant for that individual alone and not include other people in the same case.
While the changes fall short of ensuring that the approval to wiretap a person be restricted to a single case and not used in investigations into unrelated cases involving the same person, they will help rein in abuses of wiretapping power, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said on the legislative floor.
In the “September strife” scandal, the Special Investigation Division of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office was found to have placed the telephone numbers of unrelated cases under a single wiretapping warrant during an investigation into allegations that Wang had improperly lobbied prosecutors not to appeal a non-guilty verdict handed down to DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
The amendment passed yesterday stipulates that information gathered from wiretaps cannot be used as evidence in separate cases unless prosecutors are able to obtain another court-approved wiretap order within seven days and prove the links between the cases.
Those convicted of violating the rule restricting the use of wiretap information only for the originally specified purpose could face up to three years in prison.
The Judicial Reform Foundation was sharply critical of the legislature’s actions, saying the approved revisions are insufficient to end the abuse of power and rampant use of wiretaps by law enforcement personnel.
The foundation has called for abolishment of the two institutions responsible for telephone surveillance activities under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency.
It has said the subordinate relationship between the institutions and investigative and police systems must end.
DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said she regretted that the party’s proposed amendment, which incorporated proposals made by the foundation, was not accepted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in cross-party negotiations.
The law is supposed to protect the freedom of individuals and their privacy in telecommunications, not assist law enforcement personnel conducting criminal investigations, she said.
Following yesterday’s session, the legislature goes into a regular recess today.
The recess will last until Feb. 20.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats