{"id":12852,"date":"2026-04-30T03:55:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/amap-poses-social-individual-risks-moda-taipei-times\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T03:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:55:56","slug":"amap-poses-social-individual-risks-moda-taipei-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/amap-poses-social-individual-risks-moda-taipei-times\/","title":{"rendered":"AMap poses social, individual risks: MODA &#8211; Taipei Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Data collected by Chinese navigation app AMap (\u9ad8\u5fb7\u5730\u5716) could potentially be used to analyze not only societal patterns, but also the behaviors of individual users, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said yesterday, adding that a cybersecurity risk assessment of the app would be released next month.<br \/>During a legislative session focused on artificial intelligence (AI) governance and digital transparency, officials from the ministry, the National Science and Technology Council and Academia Sinica were invited to present reports and answer questions, including those related to AMap. <br \/>Under the Cybersecurity Management Act (\u8cc7\u901a\u5b89\u5168\u7ba1\u7406\u6cd5), AMap is considered a product that poses a threat to national cybersecurity, so government agencies are prohibited from using it and a cybersecurity assessment has to be conducted, the ministry has said.<br \/>Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times<br \/>Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Pei-yi (\u5433\u6c9b\u5104) said AMap relies on China\u2019s BeiDou satellite navigation system and operates under Chinese laws that might require companies to share user data with authorities, which could pose significant risks to national security.<br \/>The app\u2019s ability to collect and transmit location data could enable large-scale analysis of societal behavior if widely adopted, Wu said. <br \/>She also questioned whether aggregated data from Taiwanese users might be used to map not only general social patterns, but also individual lifestyles.<br \/>Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Hou Yi-hsiu (\u4faf\u5b9c\u79c0) said the data collected by the app could potentially be used to analyze collective social trends and detailed personal behavior patterns. <br \/>That dual-layered risk \u2014 affecting society and individual users \u2014 has prompted further scrutiny, Hou added.<br \/>Ministry officials confirmed that AMap is undergoing testing by cybersecurity authorities. <br \/>The evaluation focuses on several key areas, including whether the app accesses data in real time, whether it exceeds the permissions granted by users and whether it retrieves sensitive information such as health records or private communications, they said.<br \/>Officials said they are also examining whether the app assigns identifiers to individual devices, which could allow for long-term tracking or profiling of users. <br \/>Such practices, if confirmed, could enable the reconstruction of detailed personal movement patterns, they said. <br \/>DPP Legislator Chen Hsiu-pao (\u9673\u79c0\u5bf6) said many products are being labeled as \u201cAI,\u201d but whether they truly have AI functions is questionable.<br \/>Chen suggested adopting a certification system similar to energy efficiency labeling.<br \/>The ministry said it would discuss and study the issue with relevant government agencies.<br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.  Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei.  While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week.  A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday.  Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening.  Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci\/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council&#8217;s Transportation Committee.  While construction began in October 2016 with an                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red\">NON-RED SUPPLY:<\/font>                                         Boosting the nation\u2019s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China\u2019s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said                                         Taiwan\u2019s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed.  The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan\u2019s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic.  These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said.  Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi\u2019s comment last year on Tokyo\u2019s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said.  Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a \u201csurvival-threatening situation\u201d for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense.  Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China\u2019s previous assumptions                                    <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiekFVX3lxTFBTN2NiUjRTaVdkbzJyODNubnJrRDVCNFRFTnF6WXM2cldHd0xFR25NVHhETDlDSUp0OHp6MlBQTDdlWUJCUU0tRzBnUkgtN0dtc2pDMkZRWlU5d0U5RkZEbjlOSzI5blh1UXNGNHNxSE14ZkFxc0RXU3dR?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data collected by Chinese navigation app AMap (\u9ad8\u5fb7\u5730\u5716) could potentially be used to analyze not only societal patterns, but also the behaviors of individual users, the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) said yesterday, adding that a cybersecurity risk assessment of the app would be released next month.During a legislative session focused on artificial intelligence (AI) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}