What to Do If Your Name Is Disclosed in a Judgment? A Privacy Protection Guide for Sexual Assault Cases

▋Starting from a story of forced name disclosure

Woman A accused Man B of compulsory sexual intercourse (an offense of sexual autonomy). In turn, Man B accused Woman A of perjury (a perjury case). The underlying facts and legal issues of both lawsuits concerned whether "Man B had committed compulsory sexual intercourse against Woman A's will."

According to the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, lawsuits concerning offenses of sexual autonomy must handle privacy protection for the victim (Woman A). In the judgment for the sexual autonomy case, Woman A's personal information was indeed redacted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act. However, in the judgment for the perjury case, the court disclosed Woman A's name! The judgment for the perjury case also mentioned facts concerning whether Woman A had suffered compulsory sexual intercourse. Consequently, an absurd result emerged: the public could identify Woman A's personal information regarding the sexual autonomy case through the judgment of the perjury case.

Although the above case sounds complex, the matter this guide aims to explain is very simple: What should you do if your name is disclosed in a judgment? How can you protect your privacy?

▋First, we must ask: Is it permissible for my name to be made public in another case?

The Control Yuan made a relevant resolution regarding this case, explaining two key points:

1. The State shall protect the personal privacy information of victims in sexual autonomy cases.

Pursuant to Article 12 of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, "Documents produced by administrative, judicial, and military judicial agencies that must be made public shall not disclose the victim's name, date of birth, place of residence or domicile, and other information sufficient to identify the victim's identity." Regardless of whether it is during investigation, indictment, or trial, public documents involved in legal cases of sexual assault must fulfill the obligation of protecting the victim's privacy, and shall not disclose information sufficient to identify the victim's identity in public documents. In addition to rulings or judgments rendered by courts (refer to Point 3 of the "Directions for Courts Handling Sexual Assault Crime Cases"), public documents also include indictments or non-prosecution dispositions produced by prosecutorial agencies (refer to Points 10 and 11 of the "Directions for Prosecutorial Agencies Handling Sexual Assault Crime Cases"). The legislative purpose mentioned above is to protect victims and prevent the leakage of personal information.

2. If the factual background of other legal cases involves the underlying facts of a sexual autonomy case, the personal privacy information of the parties concerned should still be protected, and government agencies are requested to make simultaneous improvements.

According to the content of the 17th meeting resolution made by the 6th term of the Judiciary and Prison Administration Committee of the Control Yuan on December 15, 2021: "When searching for judgments related to the crime of perjury against victims through the Judicial Yuan's Legal Data Retrieval System, the Supreme Court's judgment did not conceal the victim's name, whereas both the Taiwan Shilin District Court and the Taiwan High Court helped conceal the victim's name using codes. Although the crime of perjury involving the victim does not fall within the scope of the Directions for Courts Handling Sexual Assault Crimes, it cannot be denied that the factual basis of the perjury judgment is closely connected with the content of the victim's sexual autonomy case. Failing to redact the victim's relevant personal information may indirectly lead to the leakage of the victim's personal data, which is unfavorable to the protection of the victim's identity. Accordingly, to protect victim privacy, even though the crime of perjury involving the victim is not directly related to the sexual autonomy case, judicial agencies should simultaneously attach importance to the importance of redacting victims' personal data in order to strengthen the victim privacy protection mechanism. However, in the legal data retrieval system managed by the Judicial Yuan, the Supreme Court failed to conceal the victim's name, which might indirectly expose the course of the parties' case and makes it difficult to ensure victim privacy; improvements are warranted."

In this resolution, because the factual background of the perjury crime in this case involved the dispute over the underlying facts of another sexual autonomy case, although privacy protection treatment was carried out in relevant public documents of the other sexual autonomy case in accordance with the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act and its subsidiary regulations, the crime of perjury itself does not fall within the scope of application of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act. This constitutes an obvious legal flaw, resulting in an omission in the regulations. Therefore, this resolution reveals that, based on strengthening the mechanism for protecting victim privacy, judicial agencies should attach equal importance to the importance of redacting victims' personal information. In other words, both judicial and administrative agencies should, based on their official authority, "interpret and handle cases where other legal cases involve the underlying facts of sexual autonomy cases in accordance with the privacy protection norms of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act, and simultaneously amend relevant regulations."

▋What can you do if the judgment of another case discloses your name?

1. Redaction of Judgments

The Control Yuan has provided clear guidance in its resolution, requiring government agencies to interpret and handle cases in accordance with the privacy protection norms of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act. Currently, the Judicial Yuan's judgment inquiry system basically conducts redaction work in accordance with the aforementioned guidance. However, if the judgment of another case inadvertently discloses your name, you may call the Department of Information Management of the Judicial Yuan (02-2361-8577, extension 406) to assist in anonymizing the judgment of the other case.

2. Have a lawyer submit a written brief

If, during the litigation process, you become involved in other lawsuits due to the sexual autonomy case—such as perjury, defamation, or civil damages—you can ask your retained lawyer to submit a written brief requesting the judicial agency to redact personal information in accordance with relevant norms of the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act. Additionally, if your case does not involve sexual autonomy but heavily involves personal privacy (such as cases involving sexual orientation, transgender issues, etc.) and you do not wish for your name to be disclosed in the judgment, you can also set forth detailed reasons through a written brief to allow the judge to make a case-by-case determination to redact personal information.

If you have further questions regarding the redaction of personal data, please add JRF's LINE, leave a message explaining your basic information and the problem you have encountered, and we will understand and reply as soon as possible! (JRF's LINE: click link, LINE ID: @jrftw)