The Ministry of Digital Affairs yesterday said that it aims to launch a trial of a digital wallet by the end of this year and that it would accommodate multiple identification documents in one platform.
Aside from banks and insurance firms, the ministry said it hopes that supermarket chain operators could also participate in the trial.
Like a real wallet that a person uses to carry their ID card, National Health Insurance card and other identification documents, the digital wallet would be designed to accommodate multiple cards in one platform, the ministry said.
Photo: Hsu Tzu-ling, Taipei Times
If the digital wallet can be connected to citizen digital certificates and the national health insurance card systems, people could just carry their smartphones when they leave the house, it said.
To win people’s trust in the digital wallet, the ministry would fully disclose the code to the public, Department of Digital Cooperation Director-General Chuang Ying-chih (莊盈志) said.
“This would let the public know two things: first, the operation of the digital wallet does not violate human rights; second, disclosing the program code would allow the public to test and identify problems with the digital wallet and make it safer to use,” Chuang said.
“If hackers can breach the digital wallet, it means the system has problems. Instead of having such problems circulating among hackers, we might as well make the program code public and let everyone have a chance to bolster the safety of the system,” he said.
The types of ID that the digital wallet could carry in the initial phase would probably include citizen digital certificates, business certificates of corporations and certificates of professional skills, Chuang said.
The ministry would try to connect the digital wallet to the systems for driver’s licenses and national health insurance cards, he said.
The digital wallet project has been warmly received by banks and insurance firms, as it would greatly save the time and resources they spend in verifying the identities of their customers, Chuang said.
The system would also help people when they pick up items purchased online at convenience stores, he said.
“Consumers need to present their ID cards. To accumulate points in their membership accounts, they need to give their phone number and must verify it on screen. This could lead to leaks of personal data. We will try to allow consumers to use the digital wallet in convenience stores,” he said.
The digital wallet is to be tested in a sandbox in next month and a trial version is expected to be launched in December, the ministry said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS