#METOO/Digital ministry halts access to forum website linked to child pornography

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) has terminated access to a forum website from which television presenter Mickey Huang (黃子佼) is reported to have downloaded videos of minors being sexually abused.

The Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) terminated the domain name of "Chuangyi Sifang" (創意私房), after an administrative order was received Wednesday from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), according to a MODA press release.

The TWNIC, whose supervising authority is the digital ministry, manages domain names ending with .tw and internet protocol (IP) addresses in Taiwan.

According to MODA, the site's domain name was terminated due to its contravention of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act and the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act.

Meanwhile, the digital ministry also requested that internet access providers block people from accessing content from the website.

During a legislative committee hearing earlier in the day, Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) explained that the TWNIC is unable to ascertain whether a website is legal or not and can only terminate the domain name if an order is issued from the relevant competent authority, including a court.

Speaking to reporters in a telephone interview, Deputy Health Minister Lee Li-feng (李麗芬) said local governments can ask online platform operators to take down any website found to contain illegal sexual images and issue a fine if such action is not carried out.

As a last resort, local governments can ask the TWNIC to block the website from the public, Lee said, indicating that prosecutors can also suspend a domain name for a criminal investigation.

As the MOHW is one of the agencies in charge of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, she said it issued the order due to the severity of the case.

The health ministry's response comes after lawmakers blasted the government for being slow to block the public from accessing illegal content on the website.

In related news Wednesday, a former police officer surnamed Liu (劉) was recently given a 22-month prison sentence by Taipei District Court after he was found guilty of obtaining sexual images of underaged children and selling them online for an estimated profit of NT$50,000 via the Chuangyi Sifang forum website between Dec. 23, 2017 and July 28, 2018.

During raids on Huang's residence and studio last year, police seized seven sexually explicit videos involving minors, which the presenter purchased online between Aug. 8, 2017 and July 8, 2023. According to various local media reports, Huang allegedly got the videos from Chuangyi Sifang.

On Thursday, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) said it will convene a team consisting of digital and child rights experts to look into how digital transmission of illegal sexually explicit videos can be stopped effectively with new technologies.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) said during a legislative hearing that in response to the recently discussed digital sexual violence and child sexual abuse, there is a need for the council to support research into AI technologies that could stop the transmission of illegal sexually explicit videos.

The technologies could be relied on to locate videos that are deemed illegal and help law enforcement remove them from the Internet, she said.

The NSTC responded positively, with Deputy Minister Lin Minn-tsong (林敏聰) promising to convene digital technology experts and child rights specialists to look into the research.