Four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday vowed to propose an amendment that would impose tougher penalties on people who produce, sell or possess sexually explicit photographs or videos of minors.
DPP legislators Lin Yueh-chin (林月琴), Fan Yun (范雲), Jean Kuo (郭昱晴) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) spoke about the changes to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) they intend to propose at a news conference in Taipei, after entertainer Mickey Huang (黃子佼) was found to be in possession of seven explicit videos featuring a minor.
Huang was granted deferred prosecution for two years and ordered to pay a fine of NT$1.2 million (US$37,386) and write a letter of repentance.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Lin said that the justice system can only invoke Article 39 of the act to address cases like Huang’s, but the fines stated in the act are generally too lenient to deter offenders.
She would discuss her proposed amendment with officials at the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Communications Commission, as well as with civic groups, before proposing a bill that would include heavier punishments for people who produce, sell or possess explicit photographs and videos of minors, Lin said.
People who have explicit photographs and videos of minors face criminal punishment after amendments to the Criminal Code, Crime Victim Rights Protection Act (犯罪被害人保護法), Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害犯罪防治法) and Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例) were passed last year, Fan said.
“Apparently, the penalties are not heavy enough to deter offenders, which is what laws should do,” she said.
People buying explicit photographs and videos of children and teenagers should not only face heavier fines, but should also be treated as perpetrators of sex crimes, Fan said.
Kuo said that the criminal punishment for people who produce, sell or possess sexual images of minors should be stipulated by referencing Article 277 of the Criminal Code, which covers punishments for those who have caused injuries to others.
“An industry that profits from producing, selling and buying sexual images of minors should be deterred and eliminated by strengthening the punishments for the offenses,” Kuo said.
Separately, DPP Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said that she would propose amendments to the Criminal Code and Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act that would impose heavier punishments on people who download or secretly take pictures or make videos of children or teenagers.
Offenders would be ordered to undergo psychological treatment, Huang said, adding that the funds that flow to criminal groups that profit from producing or selling explicit images of minors should be cut off.
As Mickey Huang was said to have accessed the images through a special Web site, the Ministry of Digital Affairs yesterday said that it could activate its domain name service response policy zones (DNS RPZ) to stop people accessing content on the Web site if the Ministry of Health and Welfare issues an administrative order to do so.
The domain name of the Web site accessed by Huang was first blocked by the Taipei District Court in December 2021 and the DNS RPZ function was activated as well to protect people from seeing harmful content. However, the site administrators continued to operate by switching to a different domain.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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