Over the past few days, the island has been exposed to medical and aesthetic clinics involved in candid camera scandal, the public into privacy leaks panic, also make candid camera issues become the focus of political attention. The island’s public opinion criticized the Taiwan authorities for their inaction, conniving at the enterprises involved, and shaking the public’s fundamental trust in the professional medical and service system.
“The authorities turned a blind eye to the circulation of suspicious instruments.”
According to a report by Taiwan’s“Central News Agency” on the 13th, Chiang Wan-an, the mayor of Taipei who is a member of the Kuomintang, said in a post on social media on the same day that Taipei would never allow any illegal acts of needle photography or invasion of privacy, there is no room for compromise between public security and privacy. Therefore, in addition to launching a joint inspection of the city’s medical and aesthetic clinics and sports venues from the 8th, six measures have also been promoted, including urging the DPP authorities to reconsider last year on the proposed purchase of real-name hidden pinhole camera equipment.
Earlier, in response to the furore over secretly filming at the medical and beauty clinic, Taiwan’s“Premier” Zhuo rongtai said that“The authorities have an obligation to relieve the people of their fear.” Taipei City Councillor You Shuhui of the Kuomintang asked on the 13th, “Only now do we know people are afraid?” She asked the Taipei municipal government last year to write a letter to the Taiwan authorities to formulate relevant plans to prevent this, only to be responded to by the Taiwan“Executive Yuan” in Cold Mandarin. You Shuhui said that it was the cold-blooded evasion by the“Executive Yuan” that allowed the surreptitious filming to spread and the range of victims to expand. “Don’t wait until there are more victims before pretending you finally see the problem,” she said. She said the need to regulate the source was all the more important because it was well known that pinhole devices were often used for covert filming. “The authorities can never just say they are following the law after a tragedy has occurred and ignore the flow of suspicious tools,” she said.
After the“Taiwan independence” die-hard Shen Boyang was nominated to run for Mayor of Taipei, his previous“Embarrassing alarm” about secretly taking pictures was also uncovered by the Blue Camp. Kuomintang“Legislator” Wang Hongwei said on the 13th, last year, “Recall” before Shen Boyang said his home was installed in front of a pinhole camera secretly filmed, after he called the police has become a“Dead end without result. Wang Hongwei said that the actual situation is that the Taipei Police soon announced after the investigation that“Nothing illegal has been found.” The incident was originally an own mistake. Now the Democratic Progressive Party has nominated Shen Boyang to run for mayor of Taipei, “I hope there will be no more incidents of politicians harassing the police.”.
There are pinhole cameras disguised as smoke detectors in the clinic
The reason why surreptitious photography has become a hot topic in the island’s election is closely related to the recent“Medical beauty group pinhole surreptitious photography storm”. According to a report by Taiwan’s“China Times,” recently, female customers found a pinhole camera disguised as a smoke detector in the clinic of ARI, a leading Taiwanese medical beauty, at its branch in Banqiao, New Taipei City, she reported the case to the police. Subsequently, a man surnamed Hsieh, who was working as a self-employed person to undertake the maintenance of the monitors in the northern Taiwan branch of Erli, was suspected to have“Received an order” to dismantle the monitor mainframe from the Banqiao branch, and drove South alone, and removed the monitor mainframes of the nine branches along the way. In this regard, Alli group argued that the clinic set up surveillance equipment, aimed at ensuring the quality of medical care, maintaining the safety of drugs and equipment, there is no violation of consumer privacy.
In its heyday, the group set up 76 companies in fields ranging from cosmetology, postnatal care, anti-ageing, dentistry, medical equipment and agents, and even property development. According to Taiwanese media estimates, the group’s annual turnover is close to NT $8 billion.
After the incident, the New Taipei District Attorney’s Office directed the New Taipei City Police to expand the search of many branches of the Erli group, and detained Erli President Chang Rushan, his Special Assistant Zhang Yuanling and others, and took them into custody.
However, the furore over the island’s secret photography incident did not end there, but rather intensified. According to a report by Taiwan’s“United Daily News” on the 13th, after the Aerie Group was reported, some people found that the Guangguang Medical and beauty group clinic had installed pinhole cameras with smoke detectors, new North District Attorney’s office suspected its relationship enterprises, weight loss clinic“Kyoto Hall” also installed the same type of camera, 12, commanded the police to search more than branches, seized the host equipment and other evidence. The New Taipei City Health Bureau also took the initiative to audit many branches of the lefei fashion clinic of the medical and beauty chain, and found that the consultation room and the operating room were equipped with smoke-detecting monitors. Another medical and beauty chain, Shengyi Clinic, is also suspected of installing a video camera in the treatment room, according to Taiwan’s Yonhap news website.
In the south, the Tainan City Health Bureau recently found that a pinhole camera disguised as a smoke detector was installed on the ceiling of a beauty salon at a medical and beauty clinic. The operator said that the equipment only has the function of recording, and has already obtained the consent of consumers, but the police found it was suspected of video recording. Taiwan’s“Ministry of Health and welfare” said it had found out that many medical and beauty groups on the island were involved in illegal secretly filming, which was distributed in seven or eight counties and cities across Taiwan. According to Taiwan’s United Daily News, consumers who choose clinics that advertise“Peace of mind and beauty, peace of mind and beauty” are subjected to brutal privacy violations in what they believe is a trustworthy environment, “They don’t have a beautiful witness, but they have to worry about the leakage of private images, especially when the police have found underage victims, which shows the breadth of victims.”.
Taiwan authorities fail to act
A series of scandals involving surreptitious videotaping of medical and beauty clinics has sparked a nationwide privacy scare. A large number of female consumers for refunds, more worried about the outflow of private images, more than 3000 people have formed a“Self-help Club” to study countermeasures. Chen Yucheng, a member of Parliament from the People’s Party, said that some people are now afraid to go to public toilets for fear that there are also pinhole cameras in places such as MRT and public parking lots.
The dean of Taiwan University’s medical school, Wu Ming-hsien, said recently that the setting up of pinhole cameras in medical beauty clinics has violated patients’ privacy and the law. “This trend can not last long,” he said. He believes that the biggest problem in the island’s medical and beauty industry is that the operators do not necessarily have a doctor’s background, and treat medical practices as commercial operations, resulting in chaos. “Legislators” said that although Taiwan has“Medical institutions medical privacy maintenance norms,” but very rough, in the legal level is not enough.
On the 13th, Taiwan’s modern women’s foundation criticized that the Taiwan authorities’ response still focused on the“Medical treatment law” punishment and administrative management, and did not face up to the fact that the incident was cross-county, large-scale and long-term filming, it may even involve“Systematic video sexual violence” broadcast live on the Internet. It also lacks an inter-departmental integrated mechanism for victim protection and scientific and technological investigation, it reveals that Taiwan’s gender violence prevention and control system is difficult to respond to the new forms of digital sexual violence crimes. Wang Ruxuan, director of the modern women’s foundation in Taiwan, named the relevant competent departments of the Taiwan authorities as passive and inaction, fearing that the administrative responsibilities of the companies and perpetrators involved in the case would be indulged.
Taiwan’s“China Times” revealed that the group’s chairman Chang Rushan, who was born in Tainan and befriended many green factions, is regarded as a“Green money”. When the list of secretaries-general of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) served as Taiwan’s interior minister, Chang joined forces with the police and firefighters, donating equipment and sending ambulances. Reported that over the years, the expansion of the territory of Ari, and often Rushan contact with green political figures not unrelated, “This time Ari accident, also makes the outside world question the mysterious beauty black hole how much secret has not been exposed.”.
Taiwan’s“United Daily News” 12, said in an editorial, medical beauty clinics in the“Bright” signs, hidden unimaginable evil. The surreptitious storm hit the island’s medical beauty system image, but also highlights the oversight of the Taiwan authorities there is a serious oversight. Taiwan authorities, knowing that there is no single incident of medical beauty secretly taking photos, should pay more attention to the supervision of the medical beauty industry and patch up the loopholes in consumer privacy protection, in addition to severely punishing lawbreakers and comprehensively investigating other clinics, by preventing medical institutions from freely collecting private images, “The fear of being seen naked can be removed”.
An editorial published by Taiwan’s industrial and commercial times on the 13th said that once the surveillance equipment is abused, the victims will not only bear the risk of image outflow, but also the long-term damage to their personal dignity and sense of psychological safety. The incident has caused panic in Taiwan because it has shaken the most fundamental trust in professional healthcare and services. The article argues that this incident is not a single industry crisis, but a major warning signal for Taiwan’s digital governance and privacy protection system. However, the Taiwan authorities’ current management norms for surveillance equipment are obviously insufficient.