BIG BROTHER:Many government agencies refused to provide statistics on Internet surveillance, but it appears widespread and its legal foundations also remain unclear

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 06, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

National Internet surveillance is opaque and lacks clear legal regulation, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights said yesterday, announcing the results of its first Taiwan Internet Transparency Report.

“The people have a right to know how cases [of Internet surveillance] occur every year, what the legal foundation is and how the process is run,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said, citing widespread Internet usage around the nation.

She said that many government agencies had refused to provide statistics on Internet surveillance, making it difficult to near impossible to compile complete figures.

“The current data situation is extremely unrealistic,” association specialist Ho Ming-hsuan (何明諠) said, adding that the number of cases of Internet surveillance statistically provided by government agencies was far lower than the number of requests reported by major Internet companies.     [FULL  STORY]