The military has requested that Google limit the exposure of military installations in Google Maps’ new 3D function after netizens discovered that they could view missile defense batteries ringing Taipei, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said yesterday.
The enhanced function, which went partially online three days ago, allows users to zoom in and view locations whose satellite imagery Google has digitized into 3D data.
Users can currently view much of Taipei and its surroundings through the function, including Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) and Sindian District (新店) in New Taipei City, where the National Security Bureau compound and missile defense batteries are located respectively.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The high-definition images clearly show individual MIM-104 Patriot missile launchers, as well as a detailed layout of the bureau’s headquarters, raising concerns that the Web-based tool could compromise national security.
Yen said that Google’s advanced commercial survey satellites and the open-source maps that they produce have been troubling military forces worldwide.
The military is changing its methods and procedures to meet such technological challenges, he said, adding that the Ministry of National Defense is confident that their effects on military operations could be neutralized.
“Important installations and bases have methods in place for force protection and preservation,” Yen said.
“A military camp’s peacetime posture does not indicate the positions forces will take when at war,” he said. “The public should not be concerned by this matter.”
The ministry is considering suggesting new legislation or regulations to shield military bases beyond the protections afforded by the Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法), the nation’s only law regulating the conduct of private entities around military facilities, Yen said.
The government has previously dealt with Google and other online map service providers over matters related to the display of sensitive installations on digital maps, a defense official said on condition of anonymity.
In each instance, the commercial entities cooperated with the government’s request to censor the sites, they said.
However, the military has placed a renewed emphasis on concealment and camouflage, as satellite technology, functionality and image resolution have advanced by leaps and bounds, they added.
“Mobile platforms, such as the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 and Tien Kung III missile systems, have over the past few years increasingly become the deployment method of choice, because fixed positions are more vulnerable to enemy fire,” the official said.
The US requires private Internet service providers to censor its military installations, as China does with Baidu Inc (百度), the official said, adding that the military takes force protection seriously and would take the necessary action to protect national security.
Additional reporting by Lo Tien-pin
SOURED RELATIONS: Program director Jennifer Liu said the move to Taipei was due to a ‘perceived lack of friendliness’ from Beijing Language and Culture University Harvard University is to relocate its summer Mandarin program from Beijing to National Taiwan University (NTU) starting next year, a student publication reported on Thursday last week. Run at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) since 2004, the Harvard Beijing Academy is to become the Harvard Taipei Academy once it moves to Taiwan, Crimson magazine reported. Program director Jennifer Liu (劉力嘉) attributed the decision to a “perceived lack of friendliness” from the Chinese university, potentially due to shifting political winds. Liu told the magazine that BLCU in recent years had failed to provide a single dorm for the students or separate accommodation of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday issued a rebuttal to former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who said a fistfight in the Legislative Yuan might have been “provoked from the outside” to destabilize Taiwan. Rice made the comment in an online discussion about the AUKUS alliance of Australia, the UK and the US hosted by the Policy Exchange forum in London on Thursday. On mention of Taiwan, she was quoted by The Australian as predicting that Beijing would use paramilitary forces and acts of sabotage to destabilize the nation. “There was a fistfight in the Taiwanese parliament a few weeks ago
ADVANCING TECH: With revenue on target to reach US$15.4 billion, the Hsinchu-based chipmaker said it is looking to produce 3-nanometer chips later this year Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday announced plans to build a new plant in Japan next year to produce 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer chips in its latest effort to expand its global manufacturing footprint. The Japanese fab is to start operations in 2024, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker said, ending months of speculation. “We have received strong commitment to supporting this project from our customers and the Japanese government,” TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told a quarterly investors’ conference. “We believe the expansion of our global manufacturing footprint will enable us to better serve our customers’ needs and reach global talent,
KNOWN ISSUES: Fire safety issues were found in the 40-year-old building, which previously housed a theater and restaurants, in 2019, last year and May, an official said Forty-six people died and 41 were injured in a building fire that raged out of control for hours overnight in Kaohsiung, authorities said yesterday. Flames and smoke billowed from the lower floors of the 13-story Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building on Fubei Road in Yancheng District (鹽埕), as firefighters tried to douse the blaze from the street and aerial platforms. The death toll rose steadily through the day as rescue workers searched the combined commercial and residential building. By late afternoon, authorities said 32 bodies had been found, while a further 14 people who showed no signs of life were among 55
RSS