Seoul City is planning to check every taxi driver to see whether they have a criminal record by next year as part of measures to protect passengers from crimes committed by cabbies. The plan, however, may bring controversy over human rights infringements, because drivers claim that the step treats all of them as potential criminals. In the past, only drivers with a newly obtained license were subject to having their records checked. The revised law, which took effect on August 2, expands the monitoring to all drivers. Officials of the city government said they are talking with police to see whether cabbies in the capital were previously convicted of certain felonies in order to cancel their licenses. The revised law also bans a former convict from driving taxis for 20 years after their release from prison ― a huge extension from the previous two years. But police said the monitoring is only available for drivers who obtained a license after the revised law’s implementation. Taxi drivers have protested the plan, which they claim infringes on their human rights and is not a fundamental solution to prevent crime.