Lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday urged the government to address what they called a Web threat from China and protect the privacy of mobile app users.
The committee yesterday asked National Communication Commission and other government agencies to brief legislators on how the government aims to prevent China from infiltrating Taiwan’s broadcasting industry and threatening domestic information security.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) said that the nation receives about 1,000 e-mails from China per month in attacks on government agencies — mainly those handling national defense, diplomacy or the economy.
Lin said the US spent NT$113.8 billion (US$3.61 billion) building its so-called “Internet army” last year, which has recruited about 5,000 individuals. The UK and Japan respectively spent NT$37.4 billion and NT$4.4 billion in funding cybersecurity, Lin added.
China, on the other hand, has about 180,000 people in its Web army, although it is unknown how much the Chinese government has spent funding such a large of people, Lin said.
By comparison, Taiwan spent from NT$370 million to NT$430 million last year on information security agencies, supporting from 94 to 120 individuals.
Lin said that the government must increase the resources and funding dedicated to national security, adding that cybersecurity team members must also receive national security training.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) took issue with the privacy policies of mobile device apps.
Tsai said that some apps lack full disclosure of developers’ privacy policies, while others either did not ask users to read privacy policies before downloading them, or the policies contain many legal terms that are difficult to understand.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final