New national electronic identification cards (eID) are to be released from July next year, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said yesterday.
Regional trial runs for issuing the cards are to be held from January to June next year, before the nationwide release, Hsu said at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Residents in Hsinchu City, Penghu County and parts of New Taipei City, including the Banciao (板橋) and Jhonghe (中和) districts, would be eligible for the trial release, he added.
Photo: screen grab from the Ministry of the Interior’s Web site
Regarding information security concerns, Hsu said that a wide range of tests would be conducted before the eID system goes online.
Using the eID for civic services would not create a record in the ministry’s database, as the records would be maintained by the agencies with which it was used, in compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法), he said.
Software and hardware for the system would be maintained in accordance with the Information and Communication Security Management Act (資通安全管理法), he said, adding that the Central Engraving and Printing Plant would manufacture the cards at a secure location, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co would produce the chips.
Anti-counterfeit features and additional mechanisms to protect personal information contained in the chip would also be in place to safeguard people’s privacy, Hsu said.
The fee to upgrade a traditional ID card to an eID is NT$300, which would increase to NT$900 the second time a person applies for an eID, he said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said that spending NT$900 to obtain an eID would be a burden to members of the public.
Hsu said that this price was already close to the production cost of the cards.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS