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.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we