The Hsinchu City Government yesterday announced that it would likely delay a trial of the new national electronic identification card (eID) after privacy groups and city councilors said that city residents should not made into government “lab rats.”
“Our No. 1 priority is our residents and the security of their data. If the central government cannot reassure us about the information security concerns, this government will be inclined to delay the pilot program,” the statement said.
“The city government has heard the voices of many citizens and experts who expressed concerns and made suggestions about the eID program, as we continue to communicate with the central government,” it said.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The city’s Department of Civil Affairs had told the public that it should not worry about the security of the cards because a password is required to view personal data, such as the cardholder’s address and family members’ names, stored on the chip.
The cards would not contain medical data and they would be more difficult to counterfeit than conventional cards, it said.
However, at a news conference yesterday, advocacy groups and opposition councilors urged Hsinchu residents to opt out of the eID trial, which the Ministry of the Interior had planned to begin next month.
The Taiwan Association for Human Rights, Amnesty International Taiwan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the New Power Party (NPP) and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party were among those that participated.
Hsinchu City Councilor Liao Tzu-chi (廖子齊) of the NPP said that the ministry lacked the legal authority to issue or test the cards, as the legislature did not authorize them through a new law or amendment.
More care should also have been exercised in making the technology more secure, Liao said.
There is no such thing as risk-free information technology and the card should not feature a design that places all of an individual’s information on a single chip, she added.
“As it stands, the Taiwanese government is drawing a huge target over the [eID card] database and inviting attacks by hackers and state-level cyberbrigades,” she said.
The ministry did not clearly inform the public about the eID project or furnish them with a proper overview of the Hsinchu pilot, said Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), who is one of 60 plaintiffs suing the government over the cards.
“Given the ministry’s lack of respect for citizens’ autonomy and its lack of legal authority — and especially the information security risks — Hsinchu residents should refuse to be lab rats in the eID trial,” he said.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Hsinchu chapter said that it would organize street protests.
There are no legally defined penalties for leaking eID data, it added.
“The decision to run the pilot in Hsinchu shows a complete disregard for the data security of the city’s residents,” it said.
In a news release written on behalf of the card’s opponents, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights said that the ministry initially chose Hsinchu, Penghu County and several districts in New Taipei City for the pilot, but that all of the jurisdictions except Hsinchu declined.
Later yesterday, the ministry said that the eID program is a key policy of the Executive Yuan and that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has promised the Legislative Yuan that the program would only go forward after cybersecurity concerns have been fully resolved.
Additional reporting by Huang Hsin-po
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS