The international webinar "Digital Era and Human Rights" organized by the Academy for the Judiciary, MOJ was successfully rounded off in the afternoon of July 6th, 2021.

This year, owing to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Academy for the Judiciary's international seminar had to be held online. In her opening remarks, President Pi-Yu TSAI stated that although the epidemic has changed the lives of the people and in the face of the accelerated digitization process due to such an epidemic, one should at the same time deeply reflect on the legal conflicts brought about by digital technology to human beings. She hoped that through the discussions of this webinar, coping strategies could be found to deal with the situation. The guest of honor of the online conference, the Minister of Justice, Ching-Hsiang TSAI, in a special speech to the participants, declared that digital life has become a common trend all over the world. But at the same time, it has also brought about the human rights concerns of freedom of speech and tech crime investigation. These are emerging challenges that the Ministry of Justice could not avoid in its criminal policy and legal administration work.

The seminar was kicked off by Mary Jo Schrade, Assistant General Counsel and Regional Lead for Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit Asia, with a keynote address on "Microsoft’s Legal Approach to Cybercrime: Repurposing Old Theories for the Digital Age". The next speakers were Assistant Professor Puma SHEN, Professor Yu-Hsiung LIN, and Research Professor Wen-Tsong CHIOU who presented papers on the legal issues of social media, cloud data, and privacy in the digital era respectively. Jennifer Chan, Facebook's Director and Associate General Counsel leading the Greater China Region, Professor Mark A. Zöller of the Department of Law, University of Munich, Robrecht De Keersmaecker, Deputy Attorney General of the Prosecutor-General's Office of Antwerp, Belgium, and Dr. Mayeul Hiéramente of the German law firm FHM were among the experts and scholars, who have crossed countries and time zones, to participate in the webinar and share their expertise. Through the multiple perspectives of the industry, government and academia, as well as the active participation of online speakers, the participants will be able to gain a rich understanding of human rights issues and solutions in the digital era.

Over 200 people from the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Yuan, practicing judges, chief prosecutors, prosecutors, the National Human Rights Commission of Control Yuan, the judicial police, lawyers, professors, and friends from the media registered for this webinar, and together with the 60th Judicial Officer Class of the Academy for the Judiciary joined this annual event. The Academy for the Judiciary looks forward to more opportunities for interdisciplinary exchanges and dialogues between technology and law, and between industry, government and academia so that the judicial circles can keep pace with the global pulse in the digital era.