Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Having made significant contributions to cybercrime prevention efforts around the world, Taiwan deserves more feedback in this regard in return, according to a senior U.S. Justice Department official. Richard W. Downing, a senior counsel in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in Taipei Saturday that the fact that Taiwan is "giving much more than taking" in cybercrime prevention efforts has been noticed and that this unfair situation should be addressed. Downing, co-chair of the APEC e-Security Task Group, was in Taipei Sept. 27-Oct. 2 to meet with Taiwan law enforcement authorities to discuss the Cybercrime Legislation and Enforcement Capacity Building Project
One of the important issues that APEC is actively dealing with this year aimed at cracking down on cybercrimes in the Asia-Pacific region, the largest economic bloc in the world. Downing said that Taiwan and Japan are on an identical level in terms of computer and Internet crime prevention and that the two countries' capacities in this regard are better than those of most APEC member countries.
Accompanied by Alan J. Peters, an FBI specialist on Internet crimes, Downing met with 67 Taiwan prosecutors, inspectors and police officials during his stay to exchange views on the feasibility of the Cybercrime Legislation and Enforcement Capacity Building Project in Taiwan, as well as on ways of solving and addressing cross-border computer-related crimes, and security and protection of electronic evidence.
The ROC military also sent specialists to the APEC e-Security presentations hosted by Downing and Peters. Downing said that as Internet use becomes globally prevalent, the surveillance and prevention of cross-border cybercrime is critical for governments, adding that they need to tackle the problem not only through law enforcement, but also by passing legislation to facilitate the enforcement. In addition, he said, APEC economies should build counterpart communication units to collaborate in the identification and rounding up of cyber criminals as quickly as possible. For his part, Peters shared with his Taiwan audience the FBI's experience in arresting those involved in computer-related crimes in the United States.
Both Downing and Peters gave the thumbs-up to Taiwan law enforcement authorities, including prosecutors from the Ministry of Justice and members of the Ninth Squad of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, for successfully helping other Asian countries crack down on cross-border hacking and intellectual property rights infringement cases in recent years. Taiwan -- with the passage of new statutes on cybercrime prevention, as well as high-caliber law enforcement personnel -- is at the "advanced" level among APEC economies in this regard, they said. According to Taiwan law enforcement authorities, Taiwan received 32 requests filed by other APEC governments in 2003 for assistance in cracking down on crimes that were endangering e-security or for information to help solve related criminal cases.
Taiwan successfully and efficiently responded to 25 of the 32 requests, the authorities added. By comparison, Taiwan issued 19 similar requests to other APEC countries, but received responses for only three cases. Despite mushrooming cybercrime globally, only a few regional blocs, such as APEC, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , and the Organization of American States (OAS) , have established groups to exclusively deal with Internet-related crimes. So far, Taiwan participates in such groups established by APEC and by the G8. The APEC e-Security Task Group is scheduled to focus its work on six APEC economies, namely Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Peru, this year to promote the implementation of the Cybercrime Legislation and Enforcement Capacity Building Project. (By Deborah Kuo) ENDITEM/Li
Source: Central News Agency of Taiwan
