While the Guanghua Digital Plaza in Taipei is the go-to place for gadgets and electronics from the newest high-end computers down to the spare connector for your TV, having 17 base stations on the roof of the building is apparently beyond the tolerance of some of the businesses within.
Since being relocated to the six-floor building six years ago, owners of the stalls inside the plaza have complained of possibility of overexposure to electromagnetic waves, with so many base stations on top of the building.
Some have been angered that the Taipei City Government’s Market Administration Office recently approved Chunghwa Telecom’s application to erect two more base stations, plaza development association secretary-general Chuang Chih-tsung (莊治宗) said.
Chuang said vendors have to be at their stalls for more than 11 hours a day and some think that the exposure to excessive amounts of electromagnetic waves could harm their health. He added that the most recently installed base stations on the side of the building were also in danger of harming pedestrians as well as being an eyesore.
Chuang said that the signal strength for wireless network connections inside the plaza was nothing to be surprised about, adding that most wireless network users use the Taipei Free public Wi-Fi system.
Inspecting the plaza on Friday to gain an understanding of the situation, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said that despite the office’s approval, it has not sent an application to the Taipei City Construction Management Office for the construction of the latest base stations.
Hsu said she would recommend that the city council look into the matter and remove all unnecessary base stations before the middle of December, adding that the city council would also consider giving some reparation subsidies to the businesses in the building.
In response, Market Administration Office asset management division director Yeh Ya-ling (葉雅玲) said the base stations included networks for the 2G, 3G and 4G networks.
However, Yeh said that as the newly established Taipei Akihabara in the vicinity would also have base stations, her agency would consider the possibility of taking out all the base stations at the plaza.
All stations serving 2G networks would be removed by the end of the year, Yeh said.
Yeh said excess base stations would be removed and all base stations on the building’s side would be moved inside, adding that it would also ask the National Communications Commission to test whether the electromagnetic waves emitted are harmful to the human body.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS