An audit of the nation’s public schools found that 1,089 surveillance cameras made by the banned Chinese company Hikvision Digital Technology Co have been used at 16 schools over the past four years, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said yesterday.
The Executive Yuan has yet to release a comprehensive list of banned Chinese products since it pledged to do so nearly one year ago.
That is because the Chinese companies in question have been releasing new products, rendering any such list quickly obsolete, a source said.
Photo: AFP
The Executive Yuan has held interdepartmental meetings to tackle the issue, but failed to reach a consensus, the source said.
One issue is that not all products of some companies pose information security problems, the source said.
The government is concerned that it might cause misconceptions if it banned one or two items from a largely safe manufacturer, the source said.
The Executive Yuan late last month sent a report to the Legislative Yuan about Chinese-made information technology products being used at government agencies.
A majority of the products were made by Hikvision, the report said, adding that a total of 366 devices made by the company were being used by four central government agencies, 15 local government departments and 17 public schools.
A total of 179 of the devices were being used at public schools, the report showed.
However, the ministry’s audit showed that there were 1,089 Hikvision devices on public school campuses — about six times the number reported by the Executive Yuan, the source said.
The finding was particularly worrying for the nation’s information security officials, as Hikvision has close ties with the Chinese government, and its facial recognition technology has been used to suppress China’s Uighur Muslim population, the source said.
A report in July last year by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國) on the use of Hikvision cameras in the city’s underpasses was followed by reports of the company’s cameras being used at National Taiwan University, National Sun Yat-sen University and other public schools.
The schools stopped using the cameras after an investigation by the ministry.
However, 13 schools are still using the cameras, citing “no concerns” over the technology, the ministry said, adding that it has written to the schools asking them to stop using the devices to protect students and ensure campus safety.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS