Judge Blew the Whistle:Text Message Registration System Abused, Used to Investigate Criminal Cases

United Daily News, June 20, 2021

 

After raising the epidemic alert to level 3, the government introduced a "text message registration system" to facilitate the epidemic investigation. But it raised concerns about its being abused. Judge Chang Yuan-sen of Taichung District Court exposed in an article that when reviewing the petition of the criminal investigation police for a surveillance warrant, he discovered that the police traced the suspect's whereabouts by using the text message registration system. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) should immediately review the application and ensure that such information is not used for other purposes. The CECC claimed that it would investigate the case and emphasized that the text message real-name system should not be used for criminal investigations.

 

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the National Police Agency, Ministry of the Interior, declared that the police got access to the communication information in accordance with the law, and it did not ask the Ministry of Health and Welfare for any information. The police officer who investigated said that the information obtained according to the Communication Security and Surveillance Act would include the SMS of the real-name registration system, but the problem was not police’s making, and he could not explain for the senior officer.

 

Chang Yuan-sen published on the opinion website of United Daily News an article "I Got to Be the Whistleblower: The text message registration system has been taken advantage. The CECC must act soon." It caused extensive discussion in the legal circle. 

 

Judge Chang pointed out in his article that the Executive Yuan launched the "text message real-name registration system" last month. People scan the QR Code of the store on their mobile phones and send a text message directly to 1922, the hotline to reach the CECC. However, every time they text, they are revealing their privacy of "when and where they are." Controversies relating to the system are yet to be resolved.

 

He contended that even if getting the text message through an access warrant issued by a judge or under the Communication Security and Surveillance Act, it still violates the commitment to limit use to epidemic investigations promised by the CECC in which the senders originally trusted. And the police use the information of the text to trace the whereabouts of the suspect is inappropriate either.
 

Judge Chang pointed out that if we were to acquiesce to this practice, then the text information might appear in the court as evidence to prove the person appeared at a specific place at a specific time. For example, could the employer require employees to submit communications records to check whether the employees skip work when they work from home?
 

He argued that regardless of the current restraint mechanism between the CECC and the telecommunication companies, the CECC should immediately review it and ensure that the telecommunication companies shall not provide the SMS information to any agency for purposes other than epidemic prevention, to prevent the police or other agencies from improperly using the SMS records.

 

Earlier there was news posting on the Internet saying that "the text message real-name registration system infringes personal privacy. The government uses it to monitor the whereabouts of the people." The CECC dismissed it as "disinformation" and warned the public not to relay or disseminate, or face punishment for violation of the law.
 

Regarding the subject matter of Judge Chang’s article, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Chung-yen, who is the deputy commander of the CECC, stated that the CECC was investigating and emphasized that the text message real-name registration system was only for epidemic investigation and even the criminal investigations could not ask for the text information.
 

National Communications Commission (NCC) officials commented that there are two types of communication surveillance. One is to seek access to the communication records with the telecommunications company, which contains only the telecommunications numbers of the sender and the recipient. The other is real-time surveillance carried out by the enforcement authority. It can obtain the contents of both the SMS and the communication (wiretapping). Regarding the controversy caused by the usage of the text message real-name registration system in a criminal investigation by the police, the NCC has no further response.
 

From: https://udn.com/news/story/122251/5544402

〈Back to Taiwan Weekly Newsletter〉