Internet live-streaming platform operators need to offer more surveillance and control tools to allow regulators to act in a timely manner should illegal activities take place, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Li-fen (李麗芬) said on Tuesday.
Lee’s call came after the Taipei-based nonprofit Child Welfare League Foundation on Monday published the results of a survey that found that of the nation’s 150 most popular live-streaming anchors, 29, or 19.3 percent, were younger than 18, with the youngest only 11.
The central government should more strictly regulate live streaming, as it has broad negative affects on children, National Alliance of Parents’ Organizations chairman Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) said.
Wanting to make friends online could be dangerous for younger anchors with larger groups of online fans, as some live-stream viewers have reportedly asked girls to undress, foundation executive director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如).
Lee said that underage female live-streaming anchors have been blackmailed with nude pictures of themselves taken while they were broadcasting.
On Facebook, users can report live-streaming channels if they contain nudity or other inappropriate behavior, but whether that feature is built into the social network’s mobile app is unknown and worrisome, she said.
Legislation to classify apps into separate categories would be hard to enforce, Lee said, citing as an example many Facebook users being younger than 13, the minimum age to open an account.
Any attempt to persuade an underage live-streaming anchor to undress and record such activity is a direct violation of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), she added.
Ministry of Health and Welfare official Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) warned that young people live streaming run the risk of breaking the law if their pictures, shared videos or other content do not follow regulations.
The National Communications Commission said people can submit reports of apparently illegal live-streaming channels on the Institute of Watch Internet Network’s Web site.
Police or local social welfare authorities can also be contacted if the contents of live-streaming channels appear to violate the Criminal Code or the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法), the commission said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin and CNA
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai