The National Science and Technology Museum yesterday said it would ask the organizers of an exhibition at the museum in Kaohsiung whether it used Chinese facial recognition software in interactive exhibits.
The museum issued the statement after Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party on Sunday said that interactive exhibits at the show about the Terracotta Army posed a security risk because they used software developed in China.
The exhibition, which opened on Friday, featured an activity in which visitors could be photographed and have their faces compared with those of the terracotta figures.
Photo copied by Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The facial recognition software was provided by Chinese companies, Chang said.
Three of the four co-organizers of the exhibition are Chinese, including the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (中國宋慶齡基金會), which is known to have engaged in China’s “united front” activities, he said.
The Ministry of Education neglected to supervise the curation of the exhibition along with other regulatory authorities, he said, demanding that the ministry provide an explanation.
Allowing Chinese software and co-organizers to obtain photographs of visitors’ faces raises major information security concerns, he said.
The museum said in a news release that its contract with the organizer that rented the space, Chinese Hanwei Culture Promotion Association (中華翰維文化推廣協會) specified that “the special exhibition may not use Chinese information and communications technology products, including software, hardware and other services.”
The museum has contacted the association, demanding that it correct any breaches of that contract within a set period, it said, adding that it would end the contract and terminate the exhibition if the association refuses to make corrections.
The hardware used in the two interactive exhibits were made by Taiwanese companies, Chimei and Aplustek, the museum said.
However, the exhibits would be suspended until the organizer proves that the software was not developed by Chinese companies and that the photos would not be saved or uploaded to a server, it said.
The special exhibition was approved in accordance with the “rules for the establishment of special exhibition review committees at the National Science and Technology Museum,” integrating traditional craft with modern technology to restore and replicate cultural antiques, it said.
The exhibition was designed to promote popular science and technology education, it added.
The museum approved the special exhibition to utilize its space and increase income, which has nothing to do with “united front” activities, it said.
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