The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said that it would not activate the facial-recognition feature of its new smart surveillance system after lawmakers voiced their concerns over privacy issues.
The railway operator on Tuesday announced that it would soon start testing a smart surveillance system at Fengyuan Railway Station in Taichung.
The company said that the system would be mainly used to ensure the safety of passengers in and around railway stations — including detecting any intrusion onto the railway tracks and other restricted areas, abnormal loitering of individuals on the platforms or inside buildings, and suspicious packages — but lawmakers raised concerns that the facial-recognition technology would infringe on people’s privacy.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has been critical of China for abusing human rights through the use of facial-recognition systems.
Ko asked if the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had learned from China by installing the technology to control the public.
DPP legislators sparked controversy in 2017 when they proposed a change to the Household Registration Act (戶籍法) that would legalize the use of iris-recognition systems by offices, Ko said.
The KMT caucus would have strongly opposed the use of facial-recognition technology if the TRA did not acceptably define the conditions under which the technology would be used, Ko said, adding that she was glad that it had decided not to activate the functionality.
KMT Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said that the Hollywood movie Enemy of the State shows how a government could control people through the mass collection of data and monitoring their whereabouts using surveillance devices.
“China has used surveillance devices to enforce a social credit rating system, while Hong Kong uses the devices to monitor pro-democracy protesters. Is it not strange that what DPP is planning to do is also what China is doing?” Hsu said.
Constitutional interpretations by the Council of Grand Justices have determined that the police cannot stop and frisk individuals without a legitimate reason, and that people have the right not to be monitored in public places, Hsu said.
However, the facial-recognition technology would enable the government to monitor people closely, like “watching goldfish in a transparent fish tank,” he said.
Following the criticism, the Taiwan Railways Administration said that it would not activate the facial-recognition technology, nor would the Railway Police Bureau.
“We will continue to build an environment that is friendly to all railway passengers while ensuring the safety of the transportation system,” the company said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique