In his keynote speech at the opening session of a technology conference in Taipei yesterday, former US vice president Al Gore cited Taiwan's recent suspected cases of bank fraud to highlight the importance of vigilance and precautionary actions in today's "e-society."
"This [bank scam] would be solved, no doubt," said Gore, referring to the series of fraudulent cash withdrawals at automated teller machines [ATMs] around the nation starting Thursday, the beginning of a long weekend.
Costly scam
Finance Minister Lin Chuan (
"But it serves as an illustration of the need to have security in financial transactions and security in exchanges of information in order to protect the privacy of individuals and in order to protect the integrity of the business and financial system upon which we all depend," Gore told participants at the 37th International Carnahan Conference on Security and Technology.
Held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, more than 400 specialists in security technology from 14 countries took part in the three-day conference. The theme of the conference is "e-security."
Noting that security questions will become tougher to deal with as e-society develops, Gore said, "It is yet one more reason why the deliberation of this ongoing conference is so important to the welfare and well-being of people in Taiwan, people in the United States and people all around the world."
Gore said that making good use of existing information is more important than collecting additional information about potential security threats.
Taking the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as an example, Gore said the tragedy could have been avoided if officials had taken precautionary measures to organize and analyze the information they already had about the hijackers. Gore said the authorities already had plenty of database information about the hijackers.
According to the event organizer, Gore, wishing to keep a low profile in Taiwan, had requested that his name not be mentioned on the conference's official schedule sent to the media.
Meeting with Chen
Prior to the opening session yesterday, Gore had exchanged a hand-shake and brief greetings with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who took the podium ahead of Gore as another keynote speaker at the event.
Gore's whirlwind trip was his first visit to Taiwan since he lost the presidential election in 2000.
Gore had planned to visit Taiwan in November 2001 to give a speech at the opening of the World Religion Museum, but the trip was canceled at the last minute following a warning by the US that terrorists might launch a wave of attacks.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we