The National Science and Technology Museum yesterday said it would ask the organizers of an exhibition at the museum in Kaohsiung whether it used Chinese facial recognition software in interactive exhibits.
The museum issued the statement after Kaohsiung City Councilor Chang Po-yang (張博洋) of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party on Sunday said that interactive exhibits at the show about the Terracotta Army posed a security risk because they used software developed in China.
The exhibition, which opened on Friday, featured an activity in which visitors could be photographed and have their faces compared with those of the terracotta figures.
Photo copied by Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
The facial recognition software was provided by Chinese companies, Chang said.
Three of the four co-organizers of the exhibition are Chinese, including the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (中國宋慶齡基金會), which is known to have engaged in China’s “united front” activities, he said.
The Ministry of Education neglected to supervise the curation of the exhibition along with other regulatory authorities, he said, demanding that the ministry provide an explanation.
Allowing Chinese software and co-organizers to obtain photographs of visitors’ faces raises major information security concerns, he said.
The museum said in a news release that its contract with the organizer that rented the space, Chinese Hanwei Culture Promotion Association (中華翰維文化推廣協會) specified that “the special exhibition may not use Chinese information and communications technology products, including software, hardware and other services.”
The museum has contacted the association, demanding that it correct any breaches of that contract within a set period, it said, adding that it would end the contract and terminate the exhibition if the association refuses to make corrections.
The hardware used in the two interactive exhibits were made by Taiwanese companies, Chimei and Aplustek, the museum said.
However, the exhibits would be suspended until the organizer proves that the software was not developed by Chinese companies and that the photos would not be saved or uploaded to a server, it said.
The special exhibition was approved in accordance with the “rules for the establishment of special exhibition review committees at the National Science and Technology Museum,” integrating traditional craft with modern technology to restore and replicate cultural antiques, it said.
The exhibition was designed to promote popular science and technology education, it added.
The museum approved the special exhibition to utilize its space and increase income, which has nothing to do with “united front” activities, it said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS