2025-03-12 07:02 United Daily News / Reporter
Yuan Zhihao / Tainan Real Time Report
With the rapid development of information technology, the density of surveillance systems in public institutions, intersections, etc. is getting higher and higher, and the chances of people’s activities being exposed have greatly increased. In Tainan City, a female engineer named Lin sued the court for installing a monitor on the second floor of the elementary school next door to record her home 24 hours a day. The police pointed out that the camera lens of the security surveillance system will never be directed towards private places; scholars reminded that the exercise of state public power should avoid infringing on, and even must protect, people’s right to privacy.
Wang Po-Chi, an associate professor of the Department of Crime Prevention at Ming Chuan University, pointed out that the protection of personal images should include the negative aspect of privacy being inviolable, and the positive aspect of the right to self-determine to whom the image should be disclosed; the former refers to being watched and monitored, while the latter refers to public disclosure and dissemination to the public. With the rapid development of monitor technology, personal images can be easily collected, stored, processed, utilized, and transmitted, posing risks of privacy infringement.
As the highest public power, the state uses the power of governance and tax money granted by the people to allow the public sector to have the resources to monitor people’s lives. If there are no corresponding laws to regulate government departments’ activities such as monitor setting, image collection, utilization and processing, it may rationalize the infringement of people’s privacy rights by state agencies.
A female engineer surnamed Lin sued the elementary school next door for installing a surveillance camera to film her home. In fact, according to Article 4, paragraph 3, of the “Principles for the Management of Surveillance and Video Recording Systems in Schools Below Senior Secondary Schools Affiliated to the Education Bureau of the Tainan City Government,” it has been clearly stipulated: “Video shooting is not allowed in specific private spaces, and no behavior is allowed to infringe on the privacy of others.” Xinyi Elementary School in Jiali District must protect people’s private activities and privacy when installing surveillance cameras.
WangPo-Chi explained that he assisted the Ministry of Education in conducting campus safety inspections. After reviewing the information of Xinyi Elementary School, it was found that since the elementary school has an attached kindergarten, the school must be more cautious about the safety of young children. Perhaps the school can ask the installation unit to make adjustments and not to film inside people’s residences, so as to achieve a balance between public power and people’s privacy rights.
As for the Tainan High Court’s ruling that people who infringe on their privacy rights can request compensation from the state through the National Compensation Law; Wang Boqi believes that in the past, the people of Taiwan have always had the mentality of “people do not fight with the government” and “have not done anything wrong.” Maybe their privacy has been violated by the state, and they do not know or have the consciousness to file a lawsuit. Perhaps starting from this case, it can become a precedent.
WangPo-Chi said that the right to privacy is the basic right of the people guaranteed by the constitution. Of course, the right to privacy cannot be unlimited and advocated for everything; but the most important thing is that national public power must be controlled by laws and regulations, and government agencies cannot ignore laws and regulations. Otherwise, as the plot of the movie “Public Enemy” has shown, with the development of high technology, the public sector may demand and demand people’s privacy rights, and even violate human rights.
Su Tianzan, chief of the Crime Prevention Section of the Tainan City Police Department, pointed out that the legal basis for the police to install surveillance cameras is Article 10 of the “Police Powers Exercise Act.” According to the Police Officers Act, each county and city police station has set up management points, such as “Tainan City Government Police Station Security Surveillance Video System Setup and Management Points.”
Su Tianzan said that the key points are clear and stipulated that “no specific private objects or locations shall be targeted, and no behavior may infringe on the privacy of others.” Therefore, the monitors must be installed at important intersections and public spaces such as security points, traffic thoroughfares, and areas necessary for crime prevention. The camera direction will never be directed towards private residences or premises.
Su Tianzan explained that the ball-shaped monitor installed at Xinyi Elementary School will rotate from top to bottom to take pictures; the lenses of the monitors installed by the police are fixed and will not move to take pictures of private houses. If new surveillance cameras need to be installed due to the public security situation, the city police department will invite relevant agencies of the municipal government, district chiefs, and applicant units to attend joint inspections to confirm that there are no infringements of public privacy, ownership of the installation location, etc. before installing them.
Current judicial practice believes that individuals should enjoy freedom from intrusion even in public places. Su Tianzan pointed out that because the police attach great importance to avoiding infringement of people’s privacy, although the surveillance cameras will record pedestrians, the relevant images are properly kept and kept confidential, and cannot be processed or used except in accordance with legal procedures. So far, there have been zero lawsuits or complaints filed by Tainan citizens against the police for surveillance surveillance infringement of privacy.