A legislative amendment that will allow law enforcement authorities to collect DNA samples from more criminals and suspects may constitute invasion of privacy, human rights activists warned yesterday.
Police are authorized to collect deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, samples only from those who have committed sex or violent crimes. However, an amendment to the DNA Sample Collection Regulation, which passed an initial legislative review last month, will expand the targets to include suspects and offenders who have committed crimes that cause bodily harm, drug abuse and theft.
“The National Police Agency [NPA], which worked so hard to have the amendments passed, told the public that such a move will help in criminal investigations,” Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡), president of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, told a press conference at the legislature yesterday.
“DNA is something very sensitive, as it tells a lot about a person. The NPA wants to set up an expanded DNA database, but it didn’t tell us how it would use or maintain the database. That’s really a cause for concern,” Liu said.
“What the DNA can say about a person is way more than what the police wants — I’m really worried that the information will be misused,” said Wellington Koo (顧立雄), an attorney.
“I’d like to urge the Legislative Yuan to hit the brakes,” Koo said.
In response, the NPA said that expanding the DNA sample collection would not constitute human rights violation.
“The section of the DNA string that we’ll be collecting for identification is called ‘short tandem repeat,’ which does not deal with hereditary information. Hence, anything related to someone’s inherited health conditions, family medical history, or personal life will not be revealed,” Cheng Hsiao-kui (程曉桂), chief of the agency’s Forensic Science Section, was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying.
“Besides, access to the database will be highly restricted, with no Internet link allowed,” Cheng said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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