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.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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