Taipei apologizes for 2002 post of officials' personal data on the Net

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Taipei City government yesterday apologized for having posted personal data of former and incumbent city officials and councilors, including former Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, on one of its Web sites.

The city's Department of Civil Affairs (DOCA) quickly withdrew the information, posted since 2002, from its Web site Thursday night after the mistake was pointed out.

The information included the officials' and councilors' dates of birth, addresses, and ID numbers, according to the United Evening News.

DOCA officials explained that in 2002, department employees posted the information concerning the mayor and councilors elected that year before the personal data protection law was in place.

But some city councilors pointed out that they were still able to find part of the information on Google yesterday.

Councilor Hsu Shu-hua said there could be serious consequences if the data were misused.