Allegations the police would triangulate and track the mobile phones of protesters are false, National Police Agency Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) told the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) also told the committee that she was unaware if anyone was handling or obtaining such information at the ministry.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Chih-lun (張智倫) asked about Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Policy Committee director-general Wang Yi-chuan’s (王義川) comments on a political talk show that protesters could be located based on their phone signals and such information could be used to analyze the ages of those protesting outside the Legislative Yuan.
Photo: Tu Chien-fa, Taipei Times
Wang on a SET News TV show added that the people gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday did not overlap with those who participated in the Sunflower movement in 2014.
Chang said that the police would not attempt to track members of the public via phone signals, adding “most certainly not” for emphasis.
Chang said he did not know who would have access to such information.
Liu said she mostly paid attention to how the police maintained law and order during protests, adding that she was also unclear whether anyone was handling or obtaining telecom data at the ministry.
When asked by Chang whether she supported legislative reform, she said she supported such changes as long as they are constitutional.
Separately, National Communications Commission Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) yesterday said that the commission was unclear about the situation or how Wang obtained the data.
The commission said it would launch an investigation into whether the three major telecoms illegally collected and used personal information.
Using geolocation services on phones to estimate the number of attendees at events is a known fact, Huang said, adding that people were more concerned about whether personal information had been leaked.
If the data cited by Wang served only to reference the number of people gathered in an area it would not fall under the jurisdiction of the Personal Data Protection Act (個別資料保護法), he said.
He said the commission would have to investigate the issue to determine whether personal information had been leaked and whether the Personal Data Protection Act had been contravened.
Huang said that the commission had received a complaint regarding the SET News report for failure to verify its sources.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS