Penalties for businesses and individuals leaking personal information will be toughened as the Cabinet is set to approve draft amendments to a data-protection rule.
"While we're aware of legislators' concerns, we thought it would be a better idea to stick with our own draft amendments to the Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Law (
Liu was referring to another draft proposed by DPP lawmakers Tsai Huang-liang (
The trio have called for a broader application of the law and for heavier punishment for people caught selling sensitive information following a furor over fraud cases reported in March this year.
Capping a one-year investigation, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor's Office in May brought a criminal case against 32 civil servants and civilians for their role in leaking 2 million entries of illegally obtained personal information.
Prosecutors found that an organized crime syndicate headed by Hsiao Ron-hsiung (
Hsiao then sold the illegally obtained information to other crime rings and individuals, including lawmakers, police officers and employees of credit information offices.
After learning that civil servants were believed to be involved in the case, Premier Yu Shyi-kun requested government agencies concerned to map out pre-emptive measures and beef up efforts to strengthen the internal audits of telecom service providers.
Yu also requested legal revisions to existing rules to curb similar occurrences in the future.
One of the laws that needs to be revamped is the Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Law.
Under the Cabinet's draft, the law would cover all kinds of personal information which could be deemed private and deserved protection.
The law presently protects only personal information which is managed, processed, stored or distributed by computers.
The punishment for those who release personal information for commercial purposes would also be increased.
While the current maximum sentence is a two-year jail term or a NT$40,000 fine, the draft would increase this to up to five years imprisonment or a maximum fine of NT$1 million.
The three DPP lawmakers, however, proposed to increase this to seven years imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of NT$1 million, claiming that heavier punishments always serve as a more effective deterrent.
In addition, groups enjoying the prerogative to obtain personal information would have that privilege revoked.
Under current rules, workers in eight professional fields are allowed to collect personal information for business purposes. These eight professions are: Private detective agencies, banks, hospitals, schools, telecom and Internet service providers, insurance companies, the media and stock-exchange companies.
According to an official personal information protection review, conducted by the Directorate General of Telecommunications (DGT), Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大) and Mobitai Communications Co Ltd (東信電訊) were ranked as the leaders in protecting customer personal information from their peers.
The two mobile operators were followed in sequence by First International Telecom (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by