Lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday urged the government to address what they called a Web threat from China and protect the privacy of mobile app users.
The committee yesterday asked National Communication Commission and other government agencies to brief legislators on how the government aims to prevent China from infiltrating Taiwan’s broadcasting industry and threatening domestic information security.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) said that the nation receives about 1,000 e-mails from China per month in attacks on government agencies — mainly those handling national defense, diplomacy or the economy.
Lin said the US spent NT$113.8 billion (US$3.61 billion) building its so-called “Internet army” last year, which has recruited about 5,000 individuals. The UK and Japan respectively spent NT$37.4 billion and NT$4.4 billion in funding cybersecurity, Lin added.
China, on the other hand, has about 180,000 people in its Web army, although it is unknown how much the Chinese government has spent funding such a large of people, Lin said.
By comparison, Taiwan spent from NT$370 million to NT$430 million last year on information security agencies, supporting from 94 to 120 individuals.
Lin said that the government must increase the resources and funding dedicated to national security, adding that cybersecurity team members must also receive national security training.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) took issue with the privacy policies of mobile device apps.
Tsai said that some apps lack full disclosure of developers’ privacy policies, while others either did not ask users to read privacy policies before downloading them, or the policies contain many legal terms that are difficult to understand.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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