The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed a bill allowing courts to issue restraining orders to prevent people from disseminating explicit images of a person without their consent, with provisions aimed at individuals and online service providers.
The bill, which amends the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法), would allow courts to issue civil protection orders prohibiting the remaking, dissemination, broadcast, delivery or publication of intimate images of a protected individual.
Perpetrators would also be required to return any images to victims, and law enforcement officials can order them to delete the content if necessary.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Online service providers would be required to remove or restrict access to intimate images on their Web sites when they discover such content, or when they are informed about its existence by government agencies or law enforcement.
Any content to be deleted would have to be kept by service providers for 180 days while law enforcement officials investigate the incident.
If service providers contravene the law, they could be fined up to NT$600,000, the bill says.
The legislation would also require restraining orders — which normally have a two-year limit — to remain in effect until a court metes our a final ruling if they expire while efforts are being made to change or extend them.
Under current law, restraining orders are allowed to expire while a change or extension is being considered, leaving the person who asked for protection vulnerable.
The proposed amendments would also grant police permission to arrest abusive partners who do not live with the victim, as well as expand the scope of protective orders.
Under the amendment, if a current or former intimate partner physically harms or mentally abuses a victim, police would be allowed to arrest the perpetrator, even if they do not live together.
Regarding protective orders, the amendment expands their scope to prohibit abusers and their close family members from accessing information about a victim or their underage children.
The amendments would also allow for those who were abused by family members when they were minors to change their household registration and prohibit their immediate relatives from accessing their personal information, as long as certain criteria are met.
The amendments also provide same-sex partners the same protections by changing the definition of “in-laws” to refer to the relatives of each partner within four degrees of biological relation.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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
CHIP EXCEPTION: An official said that an exception for Taiwanese semiconductors would have a limited effect, as most are packaged in third nations before being sold The Executive Yuan yesterday decried US President Donald Trump’s 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods announced hours earlier as “unfair,” saying it would lodge a representation with Washington. The Cabinet in a statement described the pledged US tariffs, expected to take effect on Wednesday next week, as “deeply unreasonable” and “highly regrettable.” Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said that the government would “lodge a solemn representation” with the US Trade Representative and continue negotiating with Washington to “ensure the interests of our nation and industries.” Trump at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on most goods
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
RSS