The justice ministry says that government electronic surveillance being implemented to stop the COVID-19 outbreak is legal.
On Thursday, Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang told lawmakers that the quarantine measures the government has adopted to combat COVID-19 are in line with the Communicable Disease Control Act. These include using GPS tracking devices to monitor the whereabouts of people subject to quarantine.
Under a revision to the law passed in June last year, restrictions on personal freedom and privacy during an epidemic are in line with the principle of legal certainty.
According to the health ministry, about 100,000 people have been monitored via electronic surveillance since the pandemic began. However, more than 80,000 of these people are no longer being tracked.
Also on Thursday, a government official in charge of cyber security said that once the pandemic is over, electronic surveillance will stop, and all personal information gathered will be deleted automatically.