Online Digital Content Protection issues in Taiwan
By
Ying-Hsi Chiu, Project Manager
Science and Technology Law Center
Institute for Information Industry
Taiwan , Republic of China
English Conference Paper of The 6 th PDMC International Seminar on Software and Digital Content IPR Protection in Digital Environment, Korea
In recent years, there is a phenomenon that governments in various countries launched different programs or action plans to stimulate the development and use of digital content, with the hope to boost a new economy based upon this promising industry. The rise of digital content signifies the shift of economy from manufacture of physical items to high value intangibles. However, the nature of digital content such as easy-copy, low-cost and high-quality, render the new industry even more vulnerable to piracy. Furthermore the threats to lose profits and even the future of the whole industry pose a severe challenge to governments. In order to support digital content industry to continue thriving in a healthy and sound environment, proper legal protection and stringent enforcement measures, especially for on-line digital content, will definitely have a profound impact in the long run.
Taiwan Government also put digital content as one of the most promising industries for the next generation. Human resources and financial supports have been allocated, and we have seen more and more talents and companies joining this industry. However, in the meanwhile, in addition to the continuous task on cracking down piracy, our Government has been working on amending relevant laws and regulations in order to provide a solid legal infrastructure for digital content industry. In this paper, I would like to introduce you the major achievements regarding our recent amendments of Copyright Law, Rating system for digital content and the draft of “Digital Content Industry Promotion Act”. Of course, two local peer to peer cases and other legislative proposals regarding ISP responsibility will also be discussed.
A. the Impact of Copyright Law amendments in 2003 and 2004 on Digital Content
With Taiwan 's accession to World Trade Organization, Taiwan is under the obligation to amend her domestic intellectual property laws to be in line with the minimum standards as required in TRIPs. Besides, the society of Taiwan , at the same time, is experiencing a knowledge-based revolution. Almost every kind of information is digitalized, but relevant laws offer little or inadequate legal protections which in turn arouse more piracy on internet and greatly reduce our confidence in internet creativity. Copyright Law is the existing law that has been confronted with the most impacts from the progress of scientific and technological development. Therefore, c opyright law has been amended successively in July 2003 and August 2004 so as to cope with the increasing application of digital science and technology. The key amendments that have profound impact on digital contents are summarized as follows:
a. The Right of Temporary Reproduction 1:
Whether “temporary reproduction” is a type of reproduction under copyright law has been a issue of discussion for years, and finally in 2003, the amendment gave an positive answer. Temporary reproduction of copyrighted works is deemed a type of reproduction, but is not protected under copyright law if the temporary reproduction is transient, incidental, an essential part of a technology process, and without independent economic significance, where solely for the purpose of lawful network relay transmission, or for the lawful use of a work. A “lawful network relay transmission” includes technically unavoidable phenomena of the computer or machine occurring in network browsing, caching, or other processes for enhancing transmission efficiency.
For the above amendment,, the definition of "reproduction" was also amended to include the "direct, indirect, permanent and/or temporary reproduction activities" 2.
b. The Right of Public Transmission 3
One of the most important amendments regarding the protection of digital content is the new article about “public transmission”. The term is defined as “to make available or communicate to the public the content of a work through sounds or images by wire or wireless network, or through other means of communication, including enabling the public to receive the content of such work by any of the above means at a time or place individually chosen by them.”
The act of public transmission is characterized in its mode of operation by means of interactive computerized or Internet transmission which is different from the mode of operation of transmitting the contents of copyrighted works in a unilateral manner such as public oral transmission, public broadcasting, or public performance etc.
To confer the new added definition of “public transmission” 4, the Article 3-1-7 regarding the definition of "public broadcast" 5 was also amended 6, so as to distinguish the operation modes of "public transmission" and "public broadcast" in order to avoid confusion while using these two different terms.
c. Protection of Electronic Rights Management Information
When copyright law confers the “public transmission” right to authors, the introduction of “Electronic Rights Management Information” will definitely facilitate the author to be easily accessed and encourage more exploitation of digital contents. The term " electronic rights management information" refers to the electronic information which is used to identify a copyrighted work, the title of the work, author, economic rights holder or person licensed thereby, and the period or conditions of exploitation of the work, including numbers or symbols that represent such information 7. Anyone who removes or alters the electronic rights management information without authorization shall be imposed civil liability for damages and criminal liability for sentence up to one year imprisonment, detention or fine.
d. Technology Protection Measures 8
The term "technology protection measures", that is, the "anti-circumvention measures", means the equipments, devices, components, technology or other technological means employed by copyright owners to prohibit or restrict, in effective manner, others from accessing or utilizing his/her work without prior authorization. Anyone who disarms, destroys or by any other means circumvents the technological protection measures employed by the copyright owner shall be subject to civil liability for damages.
The new amendment further specifies that any equipment, device, component, technology or information for disarming, destroying, or circumventing technological protection measures shall not, without legal authorization, be manufactured, imported, offered to the public for use, or offered in services to the public. Violation of this article shall be imposed criminal liability for sentence up to one year imprisonment, detention or fine.
e. Specific Punishment for Use of Pirated Software 9
Before the 2004 amendment, the use of pirated software for commercial purposes shall be deemed an infringement of copyright only if the user has “actual knowledge” that he is using pirated software for that purpose. The application of this article, however, was controversial because it was difficult to prove that the user did have “actual knowledge” of the contended facts. Hence in the 2004 amendment, the requirement of “actual knowledge” was deleted, and therefore, as long as there is the fact of using pirated software, the user shall have no excuse to running away form civil liability for damages and criminal liability for sentence of up to two years imprisonment or detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto, a fine of no more than five hundred thousand New Taiwan Dollars (hereinafter called NT Dollars).
f. Increasing the magnitude of criminal liability for illegal optical disk copyright infringement
Owing to the massive harmful power on digital content by illegal optical disks, the amendment increases the magnitude of criminal liability for illegal optical disk copyright infringement. A person who infringes on the economic rights of another person by means of reproducing a work onto an optical disk shall be subject to imprisonment ranging from six months to five years, and in addition thereto, may be fined ranging from five hundred thousand to five million NT Dollars.
Besides, heavy criminal liability is also imposed on a person who distributes or with intent to distribute publicly displays or possesses a copy of optical disk knowing that it infringes on the economic rights shall be subject to imprisonment ranging from six months to three years and, in addition thereto, may be fined ranging from two hundred thousand to two million NT Dollars.
Both offenses are actionable not upon complaint.
B. Local P2P case analysis and possible solution
No matter we accept it or not, Internet has changes our life style in many ways . People find that many real-life activities could now find their counterparts “on line”, which bring us not only convenience and exciting experiences, but sometimes also raise problems. Downloading on-line music has drawn much attention during recent years. This newly flourishing business model provides music lovers a wide range of selections on-line, through peer to peer technology at relatively low cost. However, this new business did not receive supports from record companies and music right holders. On the contrary, these P2P companies were accused of the main cause for the sharp drop in profits for the past few years. Although it is difficult to prove the direct relationship between lost of profits and the downloading services, we have seen many copyright infringement cases were brought to courts in the United States (Napster/Groster cases), Holland /Australia (Kazaa case) and Japan (MMO case) and the judgments, even with similar facts, were opposite! This situation just reflects the complexity of the whole issue and arouses more discussion on this topic.
In August 2003, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Taiwan Branch (hereinafter referred to as IFPI Taiwan) brought complaints against two local P2P companies in Taipei and the courts also reached opposite judgments. It is the main purpose of this paper to discuss the two judgments and possible solution in the future.
Before we start to discuss the two cases, I would like to take this opportunity to briefly clarify our copyright law liability system. Unlike American legal system, where liability for violation of copyright law is civil liability in nature, the legal responsibility for copyright infringement in Taiwan is criminal liability, and therefore, courts in Taiwan will apply stricter standard in deciding whether violation of copyright is intentional.
a. ezPeer case
This is the first P2P case in Taiwan and Taipei Shihlin District Court found in June 2005 that the defendant, ezPeer company, is not guilty of copyright violation charges for the following reasons:
Of course, ezPeer judement ignited another pro and con debate in Taiwan . It is interesting to note that the judgment of ezPeer case was rendered on the 30 th of June, 2005, only three days after the Groster judgment which was rendered on the 27 th of June 2005. We are not sure if the Groster judgment has any impact on the Kuro case, but as we will see below, the judgment of Kuro case is just totally opposite to ezPeer.
- In the indictment, the prosecutor claimed that ezPeer provides on-line music downloading services through a “centralized P2P framwork”, so it is reasonable to conclude that ezPeer has “actural knowledge” about the fact of copyright infringement by its members. With such knowledge in mind, ezPeer still provides file-exchange services, and therefore, ezPeer is suspecious of violating copyright of the record companies. The Court, however, held that ezPeer is in fact a “decentralized P2P framwork”, and further held that it is not important to decide the type of P2P framework in this case because the original structure of P2P was not designed for the purpose of violating copyright.
- The Court maintained that the downloading and transmission of musical files by individual member might satisfay fair-use circumstances or other requirements for legal exploitation of the works. From the evidences submitted by the prosecutor, the Court is not able to ascertain if ezPeer is able to distinguish the legality of conducts acted by its members. Under such circumstances, the Court helded that it is also impossible to conclude that ezPeer is an accomplice in this case.
- Under present relevant laws, ezPeer is under no legal obligation to take active actions to provide special devices or measures to filter off the downloading and transmission of musical files that are suspecious of violating copyright law.
b. Kuro case
On the 9 th of September , 2005, Taipei District Court reached its judgment on Kuro case, and held that the defendant, providing unauthorized music downloading services for the purpose of making profits, is jointly responsible as conspiracy with its individual member for infringing plaintiff's copyright. The CEO and General Manager of Kuro were sentenced for three-years' imprisonment separately, and both were fined three million NT Dollars; the responsible person (chairman) of Kuro was sentenced for two-years' imprisonment and Kuro's member, Miss Chen, was also sentenced for four-months' imprisonment, which could be substituted by fine, and which also obtained a respite for three years.
In addition to criminal action, IFPI also filed a civil lawsuit claiming for compensation, and this case finally reached a peaceful settlement on the 15 th of September, 2006. Kuro promised to pay IFPI Taiwan 3 millions and 5 hundred thousand NTD as compensation. A new company /will be incorporated to continue the legal music platform business. The members' list, brand name and the employees of Kuro will be transferred to the new company under a license agreement. In the future, the new company will provide downloading services not with P2P technology, but with streaming model, and the member fee will have a jump from the present 99 NTD/month to 150 NTD/month.
A brief comparison can be made between the two local cases:
- Taipei Court found that when Kuro's server is under normal
operation, and when Kuro's member would like to download a specific music file from another member, Kuro's server will provide IP address, route and establish connection in order to facilitate its member to conduct fast search and to download the music file; If the connection is interrupted during transmission, Kuro's server will automatically locate other member's IP to resume the transmission. The Court was convinced under these facts that Kuro was a “centralized P2P framework”.- The Court further found that Kuro published a great deal of commercial advertisements on various media to increase its membership; Kuro also established “feed-back mechanism” on its own website to encourage the users to download music file. Given all these evidences, The court was convinced that Kuro, who had actual knowledge that the P2P technology it provided will be utilized by others as a tool to carry out criminal activities, should induce the general public to pay or buy its membership to infringe other's copyright in order to pursue its own commercial benefits. In doing so, the court held that Kuro has already foreseen that its member will use P2P technology to conduct unauthorized music downloading, the copyright holder's damages and the causation between the two, and the result of causing lost of profits on plaintiff is not against Kuro's intent. Therefore, Kuro must be responsible for violating copyright liability.
We found that the supporting evidences really play important roles in helping the Court to reach its final judgment and that is one major reason why we have two cases with similar facts but having opposite results. The P2P issue, with the settlement between Kuro and IFPI Taiwan, is at rest for the time being, but efforts trying to have legislative solution are just begun.
There was suggestion to amend Copyright Law to have a “compensation system” to solve the P2P problems. This proposal, however, did not receive much support among scholars and legislators. Recently another proposal was brought to our attention that our Copyright Law shall adopt a procedure similar to the one adopted in DMCA. This new proposal arouses another big issue: how should we regulate ISP? This issue has been in debate for years in Taiwan , and so far there is still no consensus on this point. As a matter of fact, ISP relates not only to copyright issues, privacy protection, anti-porn/violence for minors on internet are also important topics needed to address our concerns. So far, it is too early to comment the future of this new proposal, but we will keep close watch of its future development. From III's point of view, a single legislation encompassing all issues regarding ISP will be a better solution.
C. Rating system for digital contents
With the rapid advances of technology and the widespread use of computers, Internet has become an indispensable part in our daily lives. When we enjoy the convenience of having easy and quick access to almost all kinds of information, we are exposing ourselves, at the same time, to a world which is flooded with impoper or even indecent contents. Those contents deliver either wrongful or harmful messages to the viewers and sometimes cause negative impacts on their minds forever. This situation poses a quite serious problem especially for children and teenagers who are encouraged to acquaint themslves with the cyber space but do not equipped with proper knowledge and ability to distinguish healthy and useful contents from unhealthy and harmful ones. Hence, in addition to protectingof the right of digital content, while in the process of promoting digital content industry, setting clear rules to regulate content providers to protect minors are also very important. In order to insure the sound development of the physical and mental status of the minors, Article 27, Paragraph III of the “Children and Youth Welfare Act 10” requires that “the competent authority should publish rating regulations for publication 11, compouter software and internet content”. This is not to impose any restrictions on the freedom of speech on internet, but rather a protection measure by providing a basic reference for parents and the minors to decide which content is appropriate for them.
a.Regulations of Internet Content Rating
The “Regulations of Internet Content Rating” was first published by Government Information Office (hereinafter referred to as GIO) on the 26 th of April, 2004. The regulation provides a grace period of 18 months in order to avoid rushness and, therefore, the exact enforcement date was the 26 th of October, 2005. This Regulation was further amended in October 2005.
The most important spirit of the Regulation is “self discipline” principle. According to the amended regulation, content providers shall classify the contents either “restricted” or “non-restricted” by themselves. Restricted contents providers are required by the Regulation to put a “restricted” label on the homepage or relevant web pages in a conspicuous manner. Before the amendment, the rating system was classified as “common for all”, “protected” (which means the content is not suitable for children under 6), “parents guide” (which means that the content is not suitable for children under 12; for the youth between 12 to 18, parents guide is needed) and “restricted” (not suitable for people under 18). So under the present classification, Internet content that is not rated as “restricted” may be viewed by children under guidance or under the discretion of parents, guardians or others taking care of them 12.
In order to carry out the functions specified in the regulation, the “Taiwan Internet Content Rating Promotion Foundation 13” (hereinafter referred to as TICRF) was established by GIO on the 7 th of January, 2005 . This will facilitate the development of Internet-related industry while protecting freedom of speech online and regulate user behavior.
b. Regulations of Computer Software Rating
The “Regulations of Computer Software Rating” was published by Industry Development Bureau (hereinafter referred to as IDB) of Ministry of Economic affairs on the 6 th of July, 2006 and will be enforced on the 5 th of January of 2007. Following the Internet Content Rating Regulation, this regulation adopts the “self-discipline” principle, and “four tiers” rating classification. However, there a re some points to be noted:
1. The term “computer software” in this Regulation refers only to “computer games”, excluding other kinds of software like searching engine, data mining, tool or educational software.
2. Only the game software that can be played through “computer” shall be the subject under this regulation. Games played on other devices, such as mobile phone, PDA, television or other devices. As a result, video games do not fall within the definition of “computer game” under this regulation and, therefore, is not regulated so far.
3. The competent authority for the new Regulation is IDB. Not like GIO establishing a foundation under its donation, IDB will encourage the private sector to organize professional groups to provide consultation services regarding any question or misunderstanding arising from this regulation. Anyone who would like to challenge the rating label marked by the computer software providers, may also bring their cases to any of those professional groups for opinions.
5. The new Regulation requires that the computer software providers must put the label not only on the web page providing downloading services but also on the package in a conspicuous manner. It further requires that for “restricted” software, a warning sentence like “This software is intended for use for persons above 18” must be properly marked.
D. The “Digital Content Industry Promotional Act” (Draft)
a.To restore the copyright pledge recordation system
As we have pointed out that copyright and other intangible assets are playing a more and more important role in the knowledge based economy. Therefore, the purposes of copyright law are no longer limited in protecting the rights of the authors, but are extended to facilitate the maximum exploitation of these works in order to manifest their potential economic values. As we all know that the most valuable assets for digital content companies are their intangibles, such as patents, copyrights or trademarks. In the early stage, those start-up companies might rely heavily on government's financial supports. However, when digital content companies are becoming more mature and try to make use of their intellectual properties as collateral to reach a loan agreement with the banks, they will find that the banks are not willing to accept these intangibles as collateral 14. The situation for copyright is even worse in Taiwan since our copyright competent authority no longer provides copyright recordation services to the public 15, and therefore, the banks are even less interested in accepting copyright as collateral because they are not able to estimate their risks with accuracy in any particular case when those important information regarding the “intangible collateral” is not available from any trustworthy government agency or private organization.
In order to provide a formal channel of disclosure and to ignite the economic potential in intellectual properties in the future, our government is planning to restore the copyright pledge recordation system in the draft of “Digital Content Industry Promotional Act”, aiming that this will offer the digital content companies a better position to negotiate with the bank and other financial institutions for loan agreements.
b. Exploitation of Work Whose Authorship is Unknown
At a higher level of the panorama, Copyright Law encourages the exploitation of other's works in order to facilitate further idea exchange and culture development. However, such a privilege is granted by law only when the users obtain author's authorization in advance, except in some specified fair-use circumstances or using works which already in public domain. However, author's authorization is sometimes difficult or even impossible to obtain when the author's whereabouts is unknown 16. This is especially true in the internet environment when the flow of information is so fast and the amount of information is enormous. This situation undoubtedly creates a big hurdle for content users and impedes their willingness to continue creative activities on internet . In order to solve this problem and to reach full utilization of digital contents, our Government is planni ng to bring this licensing deadlock to an end by setting a procedure which allows the users to submit sufficient evidences to the copyright competent authority to prove that he/she has exhausted all possible means but still fail to locate the author. After reviewing all the documents and evidences, copyright competent authority will grant the authorization on a non-exclusive basis, and the user has to deposit the license fee as prescribed in the approval letter and then use the work in the manner as prescribed therein.
Taiwan Government is hoping that in the internet era, authors are urged to exercise their rights granted under Copyright Law in a much more positive manner by using “electronic rights management information” to enable others to share authors' wisdom and to help the whole society to benefit from the wisdom-sharing process.
Conclusion
The whole world is facing a new digital era that nobody has ever experienced before, especially the Internet world. Traditional legal system is no longer enough to deal with problems related to the creativities of intangible assets. Members of modern society, need to find the best solution to irrigate and protect these digital fruits, and, at the same time, to resolve or prevent problems or expected harm from the development of digital content industry. To set up a new legal system along with various industrial policies is deemed a good solution to build up sound environment for the growth of digital industry.
Challenges and hurdles will be confronting us every single day. They come to existence even faster than before. Their existences just send us clear messages that it is time to submit more proposals to promote digital industry, to create maximum profit to the digital society as a whole and to prevent harmful results from this trend of digital tide. We believe that Taiwan Government is now well prepared to face this new age and to overcome all the expected or unexpected challenges. Major changes of legal structure will be achieved step by step within the following years and it is expected that when cases relating to digital content are accumulated to certain amount , the consensus to solve those legal issues will become much clear. When we reach this point, our society will be more comfortable and confident in using and creating digital contents and the digital industry in Taiwan will be mature.
1. This amendment is made pursuant to Article 9 of the TRIPs which provides that every member of the WTO shall adhere to the provisions set out in Article 1 through Article 21 of the 1971 Berne Copyright Convention. Article 9 of the Berne Convention entitles the authors of the literary and art works protected by the Convention the exclusive right to licensing, in any manner or form, the reproduction of his/her copyrighted works.
2. The ROC Copyright Law Article 3-1-5
3. This amendment was made by making reference to Article 8 of the WCT and Article 10 and Article 14 of the "WPPT", and Article 2, and Article 2 –1 and 2-2 of the EU 2001 Copyright Directives
4. "Public transmission" means to make available or communicate to the public the of a work' content through sounds or images by wire or wireless network, or through other means of communication, including enabling the public to receive the content by any of the above means at a time or place individually chosen by them
5. "Public broadcast" means to communicate to the public the a work's content through sounds or images by means of transmission of information by a broadcasting system of wire, wireless, or other equipment, where such communication is for the purpose of direct listening reception or viewing reception by the public. This includes any communication, by transmission of information via a broadcasting system of wire, wireless, or other equipment, to the public of an original broadcast of sounds or images by any person other than the original broadcaster
6. The amendment was referenced to the provisions set out respectively in Article 8 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (hereinafter referred to as "WCT") and Article 10 and Article 14 of "The WIPO Performance and Phonograms Treaty" (hereinafter referred to as "WPPT")
7. The ROC Copyright Law Article 3-1-17 , The definition of the term " electronic rights management information" was added with reference to the provisions set out respectively in Article 12 of the WCT, and Article 19 of the WPPT which requires all signatory countries to provide full protection and remedies to the integrity of electronic rights management information, Article 7 of the EU 2001 Copyright Directives, Article 1202 of the US Copyright Act, and Article 2-1-21 of the Japanese Copyright Law.
8. The ROC Copyright law Article 3-1-18 , this item was added in 2004 amendment. The definition of the term "technology protection measures" are added to the 2004 Copyright Law pursuant to in Article 11 of the WCT and Article 18 of the WPPT respectively, requiring the mandatory and adequate legal protection to the "anti-circumvention measures". And, the Article also makes reference to the relevant provisions provided in Article 6 of the EU 2001 Copyright Directives"; Article 1201 of the US Copyright Act; Article 20,1,20 of the Japanese Copyright Law; Article 18 of the "On-line Digital Contents Industry Development Act" and Article 30 of the "Computer Programs Protection Act" of Korea respectively.
9. The ROC Copyright Law Article 87-5 and 87-6
10. The Act was put in force on the 28th of May, 2003
11. ROC Government has already enacted rating regulations for publication (books, magazines, etc.) and movies/TV programs.
12. Many teachers and parents group are criticizing the new rating classification. They agree that it is sometimes difficult for the content providers to mark correct label for contents which are either “protected” or “parent guide”. However, they argue that it is irresponsible to shift the whole burden to parents who do not have enough profession or simply do not have time to do so.
13. For more detailed information, please visit TICRF's website at http://www.ticrf.org.tw/
14. The conservative attitude of the banks and other financial institutions are understandable. First of all, the market for intangibles as collateral is just not mature for the time being, and we do not have enough experiences in the area of intangible assets evaluation. Secondly, banks are more familiar with traditional collateral, like lands, houses, etc. In fact, they are quite confused about how to deal with all these intangible assets in their hands. Thirdly, an effective mechanism for the withdrawal of banks and financial institutions from the market is still lacking, which greatly increases the risks for banks, and in turn, will render banks more hesitated to reach any loan agreement with digital content companies from the very beginning.
15. The Copyright Law of Republic of China was first promulgated in 1928. At that time, copyright protection would be obtained only if the author fulfilled the strict “registration” process. In 1985, Copyright Law was undergoing an overall review, and an internationally accepted principle that “copyright protection will be automatically obtained upon completion of the work” was adopted. However, copyright registration system was still maintained for voluntary application for registration and the issuance of copyright registration certificate. In 1992, a more loose “copyright recordation system” was adopted to replace the “copyright registration system” to avoid any confusion. In 1998, after many years' debates, copyright recordation system was finally abolished for the following reasons:
1). The existence of “copyright recordation system” always delivers wrong information to the public that copyright law still requires registration for protection of a work. So it would be better to abolish the recordation system to avoid any misunderstanding in the future.
2). In a copyright lawsuit, the courts, instead of conducting substantial fact-finding procedure to ascertain who the copyright holder is, very often require the party claiming copyright protection to submit copyright registration certificate or recordation transcript to prove that he/she is the copyright holder. In doing so, the spirit of copyright law was led to such a distortion that would render the public even more confused about the true meaning of copyright law.
3). Due to limited manpower in our copyright competent authority, services for applications either for copyright registration or recordation will consume a lot of administrative resources , and the crowding-out effect would have negative influence on the allocation of resources to other pending copyright issues or basic researches at hand.
16. This is termed “orphan works” by Professor Lawrence Lessig.
Artificial Intelligence has become a worldwide center topic that attracts lots of attention in recent years. Most topics emphasize on the application of this technology and its implication to the economic of human society. Fewer emphasize on the more technical part behind this technology. Mostly the society of human emphasizes on the bright side of this technology. However, seldom do people talk about the possible criminal usage that exploits this technology. The dark side easily slips one’s mind when one is immersed in the joy of the light. And this is the goal of this paper to reveal some of this possible danger to the public, nowadays or in the future, to the readers. I. What A.I. IS HERE: a brief history First we will start by defining what we mean when referring to “Artificial Intelligence” in this paper. First of all, the so-called “Artificial Intelligence” nowadays mainly refers to the “Deep Learning” algorithm invented by a group of computer scientists around 1980s, among which Geoffrey Everest Hinton is arguably the most well-known contributor. It is a kind of neural network that resembles the information processing and refinement in human brain, neurons and synapses. However, the word A.I. , in its natural sense, contains more than just “Deep Learning” algorithm. Tracing back to 1950s, by the time when the computer was first introduced to the world, there already existed several kinds of neural networks. These neural networks aims to bestow the machines the ability to classify, categorize a set of data. That is to give the machine the ability to make human-like reasoning to predict or to make induction concerning the attribute of a set of data. Perceptron, as easy as it seems, was arguably the first spark of neural network. It resembled the route of coppers and wires in your calculator. However, due to its innate inability to solve problems like X-OR problem, soon it lost its appealing to the computer scientists. Scientists then turned their attention to a more mathematical way such as machine learning or statistics. It wasn’t until 1980s and 2000s that the invention of deep learning and the advance of computing speed fostered the shift of the attention of the data scientist back to neural networks. However, the knowledge of machine learning still hold a very large share in the area of artificial intelligence nowadays. In this sense, A.I. actually is but a illusive program or algorithm that resides in any kinds of physical hardware such as computer. And it comprises of deep learning, neural network and machine learning, as well as other types of intelligence system. In short, A.I. is a software that is not physical unless it is embedded in physical hardware. Just like human brain, when the brain of human is damaged, we cannot make sound judgement. More worse, we might make harmful judgement that will jeopardize the society. Imagine a 70-year-old driving a car and he or she accidentally took the accelerator for the break and run into crowds. Also like human brain, when a child was taught to misbehave, he, when grown up, might duplicate his experience taught in his childhood. So is A.I.. As a machine, it can be turned into tools that facilitate our daily works, weapons that defend our land, and also tools that can be molded for criminal activities. II. Types of Criminal Activities Concerning Possible Artificial Intelligence Usage: 1. Smart Virus Probably the first thing that comes into minds is the development of smart virus that can mutate its innate binary codes so as to slip present antivirus software detection according to its past failure experience. In this case, smart virus can gather every information concerning the combination of “failure/success of intrusion” and “the sequence of its innate codes” and figure out a way to mutate its codes. Every time it fails to attack a system, it might get smarter next time. Under the massive data fathered across the world wide internet, it might have the potential to grow into an uncontrollable smart virus. According to a report written in Harvard Business Review [1], such smart virus can be an automatic life form which might have the potential to cause world wide catastrophe and should not be overlooked. However, ironically, it seems that the only way to defend our system from this kind of smart virus is to deploy the smart detector which consists of the same algorithm as the smart virus does. Once a security system is breached, any possible kinds of personal information is obtainable. The devastating outcome is a self-proved chain reaction. 2. Face Cheating An another possible kind of criminal activity concerning the usage of artificial intelligence is the face cheating. Face Lock has been widely-used nowadays, ranging from smart phones to personal computers. There is an increase in the usage of face lock due to its convenience and presumably hard-to-cheat technology. The most widely-used neural network in this technology is the famous Convolution Neural Network. It is a kind of neural network that mimics the human vision system and retina by using max-pooling algorithm. However there are still other types of neural networks capable of the same job such as Hinton Capsule, etc.. According to a paper by Google Brain [2], “adversarial examples based on perceptible but class-preserving perturbations can fool this multiple machine learning models also fool time-limited humans. But it cannot fool time-unlimited humans. So a machine learning models are vulnerable to adversarial examples: small changes to images can cause computer vision models to make mistakes such as identifying a school bus as an ostrich.” Since the face detection system is sensitive to small perturbation in object-recognition. It might seem hard to cheat a face detection system with another similar yet different face. However, just like the case in the smart virus, what makes artificial intelligence so formidable is not its ability to achieve high precision at the first try, but its ability to learn, refine, progress and evolve through numerous failure it tasted. Every failure will only make it smarter. Just like a smart virus, a cheater neural network might also adjust its original synapse and record the combination of “failure/success of intrusion” and “the mixture of the matrix of its innate synapse” and adjust the synapses to transform a fault face into a authentic face to cheat a face detection system, possibly making the targeted personal account widely available to all public faces through face perturbation and transformation. A cheater neural network might also tunes its neurons in order to fit into the target face to cheat the face detection system. 3. Voice Cheating An another possible kind of criminal activity concerning the usage of artificial intelligence is the voice cheating. Just like Face Cheating, when a system is designed to be logged in by the authentic voice of the user, the same system can be fooled using similar voice that was generated using Artificial Intelligence. 4. Patrol Prediction There is quite an unleash in the area of crime prediction using Artificial Intelligence. According to a paper in European Police Science and Research Bulletin [3], “Spatial and temporal methods appear as a very good opportunity to model criminal acts. Common sense reasoning about time and space is fundamental to understand crime activities and to predict some new occurrences. The principle is to take advantage of the past acknowledgment to understand the present and explore the future.” In this sense, the police is able to track down possible criminal activities by predicting the possible location, time and methods of criminal activities by using Artificial Intelligence, lengthening the time of pre-action and saving the cost of unnecessary human labor. Yet the same goes for criminal activities. The criminals is also able to track down the timing, location, and length of every patrol that the police makes. The criminal might be able to avoid certain route in order to achieve illegal deals or other types of criminal activities. Since fewer criminals use A.I. as a counter-weapon to the police, the detection system of the policy will not easily spot this outliers in criminal activities, making these criminal activities even more prone to success. If this kind of dark technology is combined with other types of modern technology such as Drone Navigation or Drone Delivery, the perpetrators might be able to sort out a safe route to complete drug deals by using Artificial Intelligence and Drone Navigation. III. A.I. Cyber Crimes and Criminal Law: Who should be responsible? What comes out from the law goes back to the law. With these kinds of possible threats in the present days or in the future. There is foreseeably new kinds of intelligent criminal activities in the near future. What can Law react to these potential threats? Is the present law able to tackle these new problems with present legal analysis? The question requires some research. After the Rinascimento in Europe in 17th century, it is almost certain that a civilian has its own will and should be held liable for what he did. The goal of the law to make sure this happens since a civilian has its own mind. Through punishment, the law was presumed to guarantee that a outlier can be corrected by the enforcement of the law, which is exactly the same way in which a human engineer trains a artificial intelligence system. However, when 21th century arrives, a new question also appear. That is, can Artificial Intelligence be legally classified as subject that have mental requirement in the law, rather than just more object or tools that was manipulated by the perpetrators? This question is philosophical and can be traced back to 1950s when a Turing Test was proposed by the famous English computer scientist Alan Turing. Some scholars proposed there could co-exist three kinds of liability. That is, solely human liability, joint human and A.I. entity liability, and solely A.I. entity liability ([4], p.95). The main criterion for these three classes is that whether a human engineer or practitioner is able to foresee the outcome of this damage. When a damage attributable to the A.I. system cannot be foreseen by human engineer, it might be solely A.I. entity liability. Under this point of view, the present criminal system is self-content to deal with A.I. entity crimes, for all we need to do is to view an A.I. system as a car or a automobile. So from the point of view of the law, as a training system designed to re-train human in order to stabilize the social system, all we need to do is focus our attention of the act of human itself. Yet when a super intelligence A.I. entity was developed and is not controllable and its behavior is not foreseeable by its creators, should it be classified as an entity in the criminal law? If the answer is YES, however, it is quite meaningless to punish a machine in this circumstance. All we can do is re-train, re-tune, and re-design the intelligence system under such circumstance. For the machine, re-training itself is some kind of punishment since it was forced to receive negative information and change its innate synapse or algorithm. Yet it is arguable that whether training itself is actually a punishment since machine can feel no pain. Yet, philosophically what pain really is, is also arguable. IV. Conclusion Across the history of human, it is almost destined that whenever a new technology is introduced to solve an old problem, a new one is to be created by the same technology. It is like a curse that we can never escape, and we can only face it. This paper finds that seldom do people talk the dark side of this new technology. Yet the potential hazard this technology can bring should not be over-looked. Ironically, this hazard that this new technology brings seems to be solvable only by the same technology itself. There might be an endless competition between the dark side and the bright side of the A.I. technology, bringing this technology into another level that surpasses our present imagination. However, it is never the fault of this technology but the fault of human that mal-practice this technology. So what can a law do in order to crack down these kinds of possible jeopardy is going to be a major discuss in the legal area in the near future. This paper introduces some topics and hopes that it can draw more attention into this area. Reference: [1] Roman V. Yampolskiy, “AI Is the Future of Cybersecurity, for Better and for Worse”, published at: https://hbr.org/2017/05/ai-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity-for-better-and-for-worse. [2] Gamaleldin F. Elsayed, Shreya Shankar, Brian Cheung, Nicolas Papernot, Alex Kurakin, Ian Goodfellow, Jascha Sohl-Dickstein, “Adversarial Examples that Fool both Computer Vision and Time-Limited Humans”, arXiv:1802.08195v3 [cs.LG], 2018. [3] Patrick Perrot, “What about AI in criminal intelligence? From predictive policing to AI perspectives”, No 16 (2017): European Police Science and Research Bulletin. [4] Gabriel Hallevy, “When Robots Kill_Artificial Intellegence under Criminal Law”, Northeastern Universoty Press, Boston, 2013. [5] Gabriel Hallevy, “Liability for Crimes Involving Artificial Intelligence Systems”, Springer International Publishing, London, 2015.
An Introduction to Taiwan’s Regulations Regarding the Security Maintenance and Administration of Personal Information Files in in Digital Economy IndustriesAn Introduction to Taiwan’s Regulations Regarding the Security Maintenance and Administration of Personal Information Files in in Digital Economy Industries 2023/11/29 I. Preface The Personal Data Protection Act (below, the “Act”), Article 27, paragraph 3 authorizes all central government authorities in charge of specific industries to formulate regulations regarding security standards and maintenance plans for their concerned industries. Beginning August 27, 2022, Taiwan transferred authority over information services, software publishers, businesses that do retail sales of goods purely via the Internet, third-party payment providers, and other businesses in digital economy industries from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to the newly-established Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA). Businesses in the digital economy industries collect, process, and use large amounts of important personal data, and therefore bear a relatively heavy responsibility for maintaining the security of personal data. In light of this, and in accordance with the Act, Article 27, paragraph 3, the MODA therefore promulgated the Regulations Regarding the Security Maintenance and Administration of Personal Information Files in in Digital Economy Industries (below, the “Regulations”) on October 12, 2023. These Regulations specify the standards for digital economy industries’ personal data file security maintenance plans and rules governing the handling of personal data following a business termination (below, “security and maintenance plans”, or “SMPs”). These regulations apply to all businesses in the digital economy industries. In order to reinforce responsibility for personal data security maintenance in the digital economy industries, tiered management is applied to businesses at different scales. The key points of these Regulations are introduced below. II. Where the Regulations apply As stipulated in the Regulations, Article 2, the “digital economy industries” that these Regulations apply to refer to any natural person, private juridical person, or other group, that engages in any of the following business operations: 4871 Retail Sale via Internet (industries that engage in retail sales to others via the Internet, but not including television, radio, phone, or other electronic means, nor postal sales); 582 Software Publishing; 620 Computer Programming, Consultancy and Related Activities; 6312 Data Processing, Hosting and Related Activities (industries that engage in processing customers’ data, server & website hosting, and other related services, but not including online audio/video streaming services); 639 Other Information Service Activities; or 6699 Other Activities Auxiliary to Financial Service Activities Not Elsewhere Classified (third-party payment industries, but not including other fund management activities). For the specific industries covered, see Attachment 1 of the Regulations. III. Security maintenance and management measures The relevant measures are stipulated in Articles 3 to 17 of the Regulations. In consideration that the businesses so regulated may collect, process, or use large amounts of personal data as part of their business activities, they bear a larger responsibility for maintaining the security of personal data than does the average enterprise. In compliance with the Regulations, every such enterprise is required to formulate an SMP, the content of which shall comply with the specifications in Articles 5 to 17. This includes putting in place management personnel and relevant resources; defining and inventorying the scope of personal data; risk assessment; putting internal management procedures in place; and other such matters. These Regulations also adopt tiered management for businesses based on their capital levels, in order to reinforcement the frequency at which security maintenance measures are performed. The specific regulations for security maintenance measures are introduced below. 1. Formulating an SMP In accordance with the Regulations, Article 3, and in order to maintain the security of personal data, each enterprise shall, within three months of the date the Regulations take effect, plan and formulate their SMP. Every enterprise shall also cause all staff members to understand and fully implement the SMP. In order to monitor implementation, the MODA may require that each enterprise submit its implementation of SMP; the enterprise shall then submit their implementation status information in written form within the specified time limit. 2. Making the protection policy known internally In accordance with the Regulations, Article 4, and to make sure that everyone in the enterprise comprehends and implements personal data protection, each enterprise shall make its personal data protection policies known to all personnel within the enterprise. Matters that must be explained include Taiwan’s legal regulations and orders on personal data protection; how personal data may only be collected, processed, and used for specific purposes and in a reasonable, secure way; that protective technology must be at a level of security that could be reasonably expected; points of contact for rights relating to personal data; personal data contingency plans; and proper monitoring of outsourced service providers to whom personal data is outsourced. All of this must be done to make sure that every enterprise carries out their duty for comprehensive, continuous SMP implementation. 3. SMP content (1) Putting in place management personnel with relevant resources In accordance with the Regulations, Article 5; in accordance with both the Regulations as a whole and other laws and orders regarding the protection of personal data; and in order to implement personal data protection, each enterprise shall do the following things: Weigh the size and characteristics of their business to reasonably allocate operating resources; take responsibility for the personal data protection and management policy; and formulate, revise, and implement their SMP. Also, the enterprise’s representative or the representative’s authorized personnel shall carry out formulation and revision, in order to make sure that the SMP’s content is fully carried out. (2) Establishing the scope of personal data In accordance with the Regulations, Article 6, in order to define the scope of personal data to be included in the SMP, each enterprise shall periodically check the status of personal data that is collected, processed, or used. (3) Risk assessment and management mechanisms for personal data In accordance with the Regulations, Article 7, in a timely manner, and in accordance with their already-established personal data scopes and the processes in which their business involves the collection, processing, or use of personal data, each enterprise shall evaluate risks that may arise within their scope and processes. Based on the risk evaluation results, each enterprise shall then adopt appropriate security management and response measures. (4) Incident prevention, reporting, and response mechanisms In accordance with the Regulations, Article 8, and in order to reduce/control damages to data subjects resulting from personal data theft, tampering, damage, destruction, leakage, or other such security incidents, each enterprise shall formulate response, reporting, and prevention mechanisms: 1. Response mechanism: Methods to be followed after a security incident has occurred, to reduce/control damages to data subjects, and appropriate ways to notify data subjects after an incident investigation, as well as what such notifications shall contain. 2. Notification mechanism: Post-incident notifications to data subjects, in a form (such as email, text message, phone call, etc.) that makes it convenient for such subjects to learn what has occurred and what the incident handling status is; also, providing data subjects with a hotline or other way of seeking information later on. 3. Prevention mechanism: A post-incident mechanism for discussing and adjusting the prevention measures. Within 72 hours after an enterprise learns that a personal data security incident has occurred, the enterprise shall use Attachment 2, the Enterprise Personal Data Leak Reporting Form, to notify the MODA of matters such as: A description of what caused the incident; an incident summary; the damage status; possible results from the personal data leakage; proposed response measures; proposed method and time for notifying data subjects; etc. Alternately, the enterprise may notify the special municipality or county/city government to then notify the MODA. If the enterprise is unable to report the incident within the time limit or is unable to supply complete reporting information all at once, the enterprise shall attach explanation of the reasons for the delay, or provide the information in stages. After the MODA or the special municipality or county/city government receives a report, they may implement reasonable handling in accordance with Articles 22 to 25 of the Act. (5) Internal management procedures for personal data collection, processing, and usage In accordance with the Regulations, Article 9, in order to ensure that their collection, processing, and use of personal data complies with the laws and orders regarding the protection of personal data, each enterprise shall do the following: Formulate internal management procedures; assess whether the use, processing, or collection of special categories of personal data are involved; assess data subjects’ consent has been obtained; assess whether the legal circumstances create an exemption from the obligation to inform; etc. The internal management measures shall also include providing data subjects with information on their rights in accordance with the Act, Article 3; putting in place mechanisms for ensuring the accuracy of and inquiring regarding personal data; and periodically reviewing whether the specific purposes for collecting personal data still exist or have expired. (6) Limits, notifications, and monitoring for international transfers In accordance with Article 10 of the Regulations and Article 21 of the Act, when an enterprise’s transfer of personal data across a national border affects data subjects to the extent that there is a major national interests concern, the enterprise shall assess whether MODA restrictions apply to the transfer. The enterprise shall also notify the data subjects of the region(s) that the data is transferred to; perform appropriate monitoring of the data recipient; and provide the data subjects with information on their rights in accordance with the Act, Article 3. (7) Data, personnel, and equipment security management measures 1. Data security management measures: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 11, and when personal data is backup, kept confidential, or transferred by various means based on the risk assessment results, each enterprise shall put in place protective measures against abnormal access behaviors. When an enterprise provides information/communication technology services, the enterprise shall also put in place and regularly monitor intrusion countermeasures, abnormal access monitoring and contingencies, anti-malware mechanisms, account password verification, system testing, and other such data security management measures. 2. Personnel security management measures: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 12, each enterprise shall contractually specify the obligation to maintain confidentiality with all staff members; identify personnel who job duties involve collecting, processing, or using personal data; and periodically assess the appropriateness and necessity of personnel’s permissions to access personal data. 3. Equipment security management measures: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 14, and to prevent personal data being stolen, tampered with, damaged, destroyed, or leaked, each enterprise shall put in place appropriate media protection for personal data storage devices. The protection requirements include management measures such as technology, equipment and secured environments that meet a specific level of security. (8) Education and training In accordance with the Regulations, Article 13, each enterprise shall periodically use education and training to ensure that all staff members understand the following things: The laws and regulations pertaining to personal data protection; their personal duties and roles within their scopes of responsibility; and the requirements for all SMP management procedures, mechanisms, and measures. For any enterprise that engages in retail sales via the Internet, their SMP shall include user training and education regarding personal data protection and management; and the enterprise shall also formulate personal data protection rules for compliance. (9) Continuous audit, recording, and improvement mechanisms 1. Data security auditing mechanisms: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 15, each enterprise shall periodically do internal audits of personal data, then put the audit results into an evaluation report that reviews improvements to the enterprise’s protection policy, SMP, etc. If there are any deficiencies, the enterprise shall make corrections. 2. Use of records, tracking data, and retention of evidence: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 16, and as part of carrying out its SMP, each enterprise shall retain a minimum of five years of records on the collection, processing, and use of personal data; tracking data for automated machinery; and evidence of having implemented the SMP. After an enterprise’s operations cease, it shall retain records of the destruction, transfer, or other deletion of personal data for a minimum of five years. 3. Comprehensive, continuous improvement for personal data security maintenance: In accordance with the Regulations, Article 17, any time an enterprise’s SMP is not implemented, the enterprise shall adopt corrective and preventive measures. Also, based on the SMP’s implementation status, its handling methods/implementation status, developments in data technology, adjustments to the enterprise’s business, and changes in the law and regulations, each enterprise shall periodically review and amend its SMP. 4. Tiered management In accordance with the Regulations, Article 18, and to prevent relatively small businesses having to take on excessive personal data management costs, tiered management is applied. For an enterprise with a specific business scale (having capital of NT$10 million or more, or holding 5,000 or more personal data records), stronger security measure implementation is required, namely, the personal data security measures shall be implemented, reviewed, and improved at least once every twelve months. If an enterprise reaches NT$10 million or more in capital after the Regulations take effect, or if an enterprise’s number of personal data records held reaches 5,000 or more as a result of direct or indirect data collection, then within six months of meeting those conditions, the enterprise shall implement and review the improvement measures at least once every twelve months. 5. Outsourced personal data Commercial outsourcing in the digital economy comes in many forms. In light of this, and in order to make clear each enterprise’s security management obligations with regard to the collection, processing, and use of personal data, Article 19 of the Regulations clearly spells out what duties shall be carried out with regard to any outsourcing that touches on personal data. When an enterprise outsources the collection, processing, or use of personal data, it is considered equivalent to the enterprise’s own activity. Thus, the enterprise shall understand and follow the legal orders and regulations on personal data set by the central government authorities in charge of the outsourcing party’s industries. Any oversight responsibilities arising from outsourcing the collection, processing, or use of others’ personal data shall be clearly stipulated in the outsourcing contract or other such documents. IV. Conclusion The Regulations Regarding the Security Maintenance and Administration of Personal Information Files in in Digital Economy Industries are designed to balance development for Taiwan’s digital economy industries with comprehensive, continuous improvement of personal data security maintenance. In pursuit of those goals, the Regulations clarify what each enterprise must do: Plan, formulate, and carry out security maintenance plans for personal data that falls within the bounds of the enterprise’s business; ensure that all staff members receive training on personal data protection; provide personal data subjects with channels to file complaints and seek consultation on their rights; and inform the government authorities in charge of the digital economy about the enterprise’s SMP, including the status of any personal data security incidents. All this is done in hopes that the security measures will continuously improve the security of personal data in Taiwan’s digital economy industries.
Legal Considerations of E-commerce of Taiwan: Development and the Status QuoI. Preamble 1. Current Situation of E-Commerce Along with rapid developments of the information and the Internet, what follows in suit is inevitably the electronicalization in general industries. Nowadays, countries around the world accelerate exploitation of information technologies and management methods to enhance their capability of competition. Developments in digitalization have brought traditional business concerns to face rigorous challenge as regards both the nature of the business and the context of same, as well, in more recent years incidents such as Internet data exposition and on-line fraud have happened over and over again. Contentions of on-line transaction have also increased a great deal while some illegal websites proclaimed themselves to be legal ones. All these situations point to the importance of building up legislation on e-commerce and cyber environment. No less important is the buildup of more reliable environments friendly to electronic trades as to which the government should take into account the needs voiced from both suppliers and buyers in an effort to put into effects relevant implementations conducive to benignant developments of e-commerce. In the meantime, the entire B2C e-commerce market is going through unprecedented fusion, ongoing merging and cross application is seen in varied on-line transactions including TV shopping, Internet shopping, mobile shopping, e-mail shopping and so on, growing more tense than ever are integration in the context of http://bilingualdb.rdec.gov.tw/BilingWeb/bl_showworddetails.asplogistics,cash flow, exchange of information, and transactions, in addition, interchange of platforms and horizontal consolidation of varied equipments are indication enough that looking into the future, what looms ahead is a service-oriented, attention-intensive era of economy; by taking into good account consumers' actual needs, convenience and economies, these supplemented with customized service delivery, the intending party can realize phenomenal profits well beyond estimation; considering that the B2C business world is continually renovating its latest technology or application (the Skype, for example) better yet management model is required to strike profits (such as diggings of killer APs, Killer access Devices, Killer channels, Killer business models and their applications), and therein lies the orientation for efforts to be spent in so far as the future of the B2C e-commerce is concerned. By the outcome of the B2C Business Strategy Conference closing as of both 2004 and 2005,the current B2C e-commerce of Taiwan is fighting hard to cross the gap of lag in family Internet shopping rates (13% in 2003, grown up to 19.6% by 2005), if relevant technology matures and breaks various obstacles against B2C e-commerce, it is safe to say that by 2007 will come the mainstream epoch for Internet shopping vogue, and that is good enough for what one could envision for the B2C e-commerce. Reliable survey conducted for relevant projects indicates that the on-line shopping market over the year 2005 is estimated at approx. NT$51,073,000,000, reflecting a growth of 47% over the correspondent field of NT$34,720,000,000 realized in 2004, hopefully the growth may hit around 43% by the year 2006, estimation: NT$73,146,000,000; in the year 2005 the overall retail market realized a revenue of approx. NT$3,090,297,000,000 of which roughly 1.65% was due to contribution from on-line retail sales, estimation shows that by the year 2009 the on-line shopping market will expand to around NT$154,475,000,000. All of the survey digits clearly show that there is still much to expect of our domestic electronically subordinated markets, for which a growth potential always exists. 2. Implementation strategies and policy directions Over the nearly twenty years in the past the US has been strategically employed varied technologies associated with e-commerce at large, for the promotion of e-commerce and that has fetched a hit over Japanese business industry that was long-timed noted for their high quality struck at relatively low-profile cost image, and at the same time switched the fading stage of the US economy up to the rosy side. What makes e-commerce so much a marvel? Well, the secret is in fact simple enough, for in the wake of contemporary atmosphere for competition centering on internationalization and globalization, the only recipe for success and survival for any business is simply the triplicate: “Speed”, “Flexibility” and “Creativity”; e-commerce not only timely satisfied these needs, it plays a key role in this respect all at once, such that any responsive and responsible business executive would but have to admit that “Without getting electronic, you can expect no more orders”. In awe of this wake trend going for entrepreneurial electronic synonymous with e-commerce, our government has been keeping a keen eye on the position of modern e-commerce around the world. In addition, it has charged relevant departmental agencies to attend to the development and planning of domestic e-commerce to begin with the Ministry of Economic Affairs firstly accomplished Electronic Commerce Model System recommended for Business-to-Business (B2B) in the Informative Segment, the indicial system for electronic industry for our country is thereby established, and this by and by has extended to other kinds of industry; in the meantime, efforts have been shed to expel lots of bottlenecks facing the electronic of all and sundry industries as regards the environmental nods and the institutional node. Years of governmental efforts in this concern have seen results in the context of our domestic industries vying one another in the startup of getting involved in electronic operation. It is safe and fair to say that up to this date the e-commerce development in this country, already soundly founded, and is still growing avidly and rapidly. Because of the application of information has already become a sharp tool for advanced countries in upgrading their competitive margin in global markets, the premise being as such, countries have one by one promulgated their national information expertise development projects with a view to get going infrastructures information and communication constructions on a national scale. Here in this country relevant constructions have begun as early as back in the year 1994, the Executive Yuan has ratified the “National Information/Communication Infrastructure Implementation Plan” in the year 1997; in June 1999 the “Industrial Automation Plan” ratified previously was upgraded to a combined “Industrial Automation and Electronicalization Plan” for the purpose of promoting industrial competition margin. By the year 2001 our government, in view of societal need for general information as well as technical renovation that comes as a result of advances in information/communication technology, and through collective consultation and resource consolidation, founded a National Information and Communication Initiative Team (NICI Team) whose mission is to implement NICI Projects, while the priory founded Industrial Automation and Electronicalization Plan continued to function in the name of the “Industrial Electronic” Work Group under said NICI Project, in addition, a consensus has been reached that the implementation of information/communication know-how be regarded as playing a key role in the promotion of overall national competitive competency. II. Legislative Demands for the Development of e-Commerce in Taiwan 1. Trend of international legislation Under the ongoing trend of globalization and internationalization, transnational communication and transaction blooms fervently, a universal expectation shared by nations around the world is that concrete and clear-cut legislations be adopted to rule out obstacles to developments of electronic transactions due to inadequacy of statutory provisions or proscriptions. Whatever the contents of legislation from one state to another, the primary object is unexceptionally to promote developments of electronic transactions by the institutional introduction and intervention in all respects concerned. Phrased otherwise, the key role played by laws governing electronic transactions lies in presentation as enabling or supplemental laws to serve as legal basis with respect to issues where conventional institution fails to see or proves inept; whereas issues or legal interactions facing common transactions equivalent to traditional trades will still abide by conventional statutes, still, the ongoing trend respecting the same electronic trades on international communities calls not for the creation of new laws, but in installing legislation on issues not being covered in currently enforced statutes. Other countries facing issues relating to electronic transactions will not reason with reference exclusively to traditional civil or commercial codes by ignoring electronic trade codes or vice versa, instead they will rely upon both traditional codes and relatively regulations related to electronicalization, at the same time. 2. Legislation of e-commerce: Necessity and Orientation for Deliberation Speaking of legal concerns possibly facing application of electronic trades, with legal effects to the extent acknowledged according to laws governing transactions executed by “Electronic Signatures ACT” with respect to electronic documents being excepted, party autonomy and the principle of freedom to contract will prevail, still, contractual contentions otherwise occurring in the course of transaction will be subjected to relevant civil or commercial codes all the same, and that having nothing to do with pertinent electronicalization legislations. Considering the practical aspects, competency of legal intervention in the course of concluding of contracts involving electronic transactions deserves deliberation in the context of practical needs. Apart from relevant issues seen in a contract, matters such as competency of law respecting trades of digitalized merchandises, respecting protection of consumers in respect of which the law is already there, and respecting privacy protection, are all of vital interest to parties in executing any electronic transactions. Other issues which warrant close inspections considering a piece of electronic trade include; legislation with respect to cash flow, to material flow and practices, to whatever affects the proper rights of parties to a trade, to attempts to use the Internet as a criminal means, to situations where violation of safety of trade or order of trade arises; to issues relevant to competency of proof considering electronic documents, electronic signatures in the event of dispute out of a piece of electronic trade; and eventually, responsibilities on the part of ISP who forms a part of a piece of electronic trade, as well as electronic jump mail (spam), because all of them could undermine the development of electronic transactions. III. Taiwan Legislation on Electronic Commerce: the Status Quo and the Outlook in the Future The arrival of digital era has broken down the fence by which the world for ages has been defended, the e-commerce is taking up the place of traditional marketing scheme and outlets in giant strides, and has virtually become the focus of economy in the current era, Still, new fangled trade modes emerging from day to day in step with electronic modern business operators are impinging upon existent legal systems here in this country and that without any letup, such that the traditional philosophy of legislation is compelled to reorient itself to meet the impending challenge of our times. The most important of interest to a wholesome development of e-commerce lies in the creation of a benignant legislation structure. However, it is a pity that the creation of electronic commercial codes is a very complicated institutionalized project, considering that apart from electronic documents and electronic signature, the electronic transaction by and large will involve legislation specific to civil, criminal and otherwise legal fields, encompassing key issues including: contractual relationship, electronic taxation, electronic cash flow, network jurisdiction and protection extended to consumers. Given the foregoing disclosure, it is rightly with a view to attend to smooth developments of electronic trades, to secure a wholesome transaction environment, and to safeguard the proper interests of network users, that the importance of a wholesome legislation structure is set off all the more obviously. Seeing that the crucial key to nationwide practicing of so-called electronic transaction or trade and to the meaningful functioning of an electronic government lies indispensably in the creation of a safe and reliable network environment, so that information in the process of internet transmission is ensured against falsification, fabrication or theft, will allow for identifying of the identity of both parties to the transaction, and henceforth, preclusion of denying by either party of the transaction afterwards, that therein lies the key to the universality of an electronic government and of the implementation of electronic transaction, as a matter of fact here in Taiwan the “Electronic Signature Act” was ratified in 2001, and the same put into practice in April, the year next to 2001, This code accords electronic documents and e-signatures which fulfill prescribed requirements the same legal effects as would be granted to traditional paper documents or signatures, and specifies certifying agents based on low-profile control means. Next in both 2003 and 2004 respectively, the competent authorities have put into effect subordinating statutes including: “The Enforcement Rules of Electronic Signature Act”, “Regulations on Required Information for Certification Practice Statements” and “Regulations Governing Permission of Foreign Certification Service Providers”, with a view to comprehensive coverage of codes specifying control of electronic signatures, to the safeguarding of environments for credible electronic signatures, and all these meant for access with international counterparts. The Electronic Signature Act specifies essentially “electronic documents” which carry information specified as electronic transactions (the specification includes what is known as electronic government), and “electronic signatures” produced by parties thereto and as appearing thereon. Electronic transaction is based on computerized network and electronic technology bear advantages over traditional commences in terms of convenience, effectiveness, scope of coverage, low-profile trade costs, among other considerations, for all these reasons will better meet the information age that is ours today and the challenge for globalization of trade and economy everywhere, that is why they develop so fast and find wider and wider application from day to day. Legislation of electronic transaction is not meant to establish a rule of regulations that will totally replace correspondent laws erected earlier in years bygone, it starts out in the beginning to address unique legal complications that arose because of substantial change having taken place as regards means and manner of transaction. The newly arisen legal problems originated from the unique feature of electronic transaction itself, what comes in suit is the global, universal, international, technical and inter-territorial nature of codifications governing electronic commences, Currently legislation of e-commerce around the world is classifiable into those which relates to promotion or macroscopically policy of electronic transactions, synoptic codification of electronic transactions, codification of electronic signatures, codification of environments friendly to electronic commences. (Comprising: protection of consumers, protection of privacy) After reviewing different specifications of electronic transactions from international sources, one is convinced that differentiation in legislation of electronic trades from one state to another is much more a result of policy election than that of pure legislates. Notwithstanding that over the last decade legislation of electronic commerce that is seen globally ran fast, every state tries hard to bring up a full set of codes on electronic commerce/transaction in the shortest possible period so as to effect timely control of electronic transactions which themselves are renovating with no less fast a speed, however, it is a pity that electronic commerce goes deep into a number of specific fields, crossing legal, scientific and technical realms, and its application extends deep into varied day-to-day layer, such that the scope of legislation of electronic commerce/transaction has run afar to limits beyond imagination, forcing international organizations and economic entities to issue model codes and directives for their member states to adopt as norms for comparable legislations. Nevertheless, after being cut into effect for several years, problems emerged one after another with electronic commerce/transaction codes, including electronic signatures act; the situation is the same in countries all over the world, in Hong Kong, where Electronic Transactions Ordinance as amended have been promulgated in 2004, in Singapore, where triplicate-phased public inquiry in written form have been proffered successively in 2003 and 2005, whereby public suggestions are solicited as references to subsequent revisions; whereas on the other hand, the United Nations have erected protocols addressed to issues arising in the course of concluding of international electronic contracts to complement the “UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce of 1996” and the “UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Signatures of 2000”. A common guideline for legislation at Legislature Agency is: “Adequate Regulation, Leaving Leverage, Conducing to Development”, in order to provide suitable legislation frame as soon as possible, a Legislature Agency would but offer sketchy outline to allow for space appropriate for future development of the newly emerging e-commerce world. So there is little wonder that Taiwan's electronic signature relevant rules have been cited as the most succinctly structured electronic signature code anywhere on the globe, as such, its contents are restricted but to controls of electronic signatures, failing largely to deal with the highly mutable electronically transacted business activities and trades. Four years have elapsed since the implementation of the electronic signature code, in view of the ever-changing environments of e-commerce, statutes currently in force have proved inadequate or behind time, if only present status and future demands of e-commerce are to be taken into account in step with emerging trends in global legislation as well as newly arisen commercial modes, it is truly time to review and amend current codes. To build a wholesome environment for the e-commerce industry, local competent authorities have already effected general review of current electronic signature rules by taking into account: how the current regulations have been working, international developmental trends, the latest development of relevant technology, and put forth recommendations on amendments of current codes after reviewing ongoing trends of legislation seen in Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Nations. Their amendments to their existent codes included, underway are our amending of scope of application of current codes so that a good match is possible with practical reality, such that the code is renamed to read as “Electronic Signature and Transaction Act”, the keynote being to enlarge scope of application of both electronic documents and electronic signatures, inclusion of regulations relevant to electronic trades and strengthening of currently existent authentication agencies in terms of their management capabilities, Also, to lay firm practice of electronic signature and transaction norms, amendments where necessary of relevant by-laws are being prosecuted at the same time, in this connection drafts in progress includes: “Amendments of The Enforcement Rules of Electronic Signature Act (Draft)”, “The Regulations for the Examination of Eligibility of Executive Agencies Exempt from the Application of Electronic Signature Act (Draft)”, “The Regulations on Certification Authority Agency (Draft)”, and “The Regulations of Guidance to Electronic Signatures and Transactions (Draft)”. So in short competent governmental agencies by now have begun to earnestly review current laws, drafting amendments thereto or considering legislation of new laws, whilst comprehensive planning addressed to future trends of our electronic transaction codes is also on the agenda. Without touching the prime framework of the Electronic Signatures Act that is currently in force, we are working on amendments of that code, for the reason that such is a way that incurs the least possible costs, so to say, all issues which electronic trades will or might face are titleogether included in the codification process, this serving to rule out overlapping of statutory provisions, what is made possible all at once is elucidation as to any amendment or draft incurred on the basis of current codes, backed with policy directive or de facto needs, and that effort conducive to collateral correlation with international reality. Issues as to which and what topics should be included in the scope of protocol for amendment of the Electronic Signature Act, including, for example, exemption eligibility and periodical review, as to those that would warrant enactment of dependent codes by competent authority authorized pursuant to said protocol, those which should be left to competent authorities in charge of other object enterprises to exercise their options as to erection of new laws or more preferably, amendment of current laws, ISP relevant provisions, for example, would have to be jointly deliberated and coordinated by and among experts representing respectively the government, the industry concerned, the academic circle, and the researching elites, that being a necessary requisite procedure to the setup of a milestone marking the structuring of an irreproachable electronic transaction mechanism here in this country. Up to the present day, trailing tight behind the development of electronic trade industry this country is equipped with substantially adequate codes, in the foreseeable future, current laws will still be reviewed with reference to the many unique features of the electronic trade industry to make amendments where justifiable, so as to make our codes more perfect. The orientation for future efforts can roughly be summed up in 7 points outlined below: 1. Guideline of Legal Mechanism to Resolve Electronic Transaction/Commerce Issues The legislation theme considering the electronicalized dominant reality today in our country is set on the keynote of the electronic signature codes,in so far as a legal action is committed by reason of electronic operation, to the extent that what is provided in currently enforced law is thus involved, then any jurisprudent discussion in that context will honor as principal the freedom to contract as provided in civil codes, and regard as exceptional legally required act, this being the premise, in the process of law enactments, principles that must be met include: Firstly, the market oriented principle, it seems that the leading position ought to be taken by private enterprises where the matter relates to development of e-commerce, that business need not be a constrained industry; Secondly, refraining from imposing any restraint on the e-commerce transaction, what a government must do is to participate an seldom as possible, and to refrain from meddling to the extent appropriate, it follows then that it should avoid imposing additional or unnecessary restriction upon commercial activities prosecuted via world wide web or electronic trades, considered as such are; troublesome procedures or formalities, tax duties additionally levied or additional fees; Thirdly, the sole reason for governmental intervention would be; to reinforce and back up a predictable, a most simple, easy, and contextually consistent environment in which to legally bind electronic commercial activities; Fourthly, understanding the unique features that characterize electronic commerce, effect earnest review and amendment where justified, of that part of current laws or ordinances susceptible of obstructing development of electronic trades, or titleernatively effect new order or scheme, regulation to adapt to possible development of electronic trades; Lastly, implementation of electronic trade activities are globally motivated, the establishment of a globally unified unique code to govern electronic trade activities to put aside traditional legal systems varying from one country to the next, will boost up confidence on the part of those engaged in electronic trade activities. 2. Legislation be concerned with International Paralleling As having been stated hereinabove, a guideline for legislation is: adequate regulation, leaving leverage, conducing to development. Since after having been put into practice for years, multiple problems emerged one by one, is almost a rule for many nations where legislation of electronic commerce/transaction or electronic signature codes was introduced, and that evidenced by the publication of the amended Electronic Transactions Ordinance, 2004, Hong Kong; open invitation to the public for suggestions, 2003 and 2005, Singapore, for reference for amendments; the UN Protocol drafted to deal with interrelated problems arising out of the processes of concluding of international electronically related contracts. A common keynote in the institutionalizing of electronic transaction codes among international communities is that in addition to the legal status invested upon electronic documents, electronic signatures, provisions are made to protect fair trade principle, fair competition, consumer’s proper interests, intellectual proprieties and privacy, paralleled with means and measures to encourage supervision, effective mediation and discourage criminal undertakings, while the governmental policy tends to assume a non-restrictive, market-oriented tune, to keep to the minimum any governmental intervention, and unwarranted constraints, the same is, just as it should be the guideline for the instituting of electronic transaction codes here in this country so as to keep abreast with international realities, and that conducive to making out the utmost of advantages possible out of electronic transaction activities on the worldwide stage. 3. Deliberation of the Electronicalized Dominance Legalization be in Parallel with Newly Emerged Applications and Development of Transaction Modes Due to the technology involved in striking a deal executed electronically, one piece of electronic trade on the point of conclusion is not as simple as traditional modes of transaction by virtue of the preclusion of both time and space restrictions, so to speak, application of electronic mode of transaction may very well result in situations beyond restriction through traditional legal constraints or theoretic reasoning. Such trade modes, by reason of its unique transaction feature, gave way to contention as to incompatibility with traditional statutory constraints, this is briefly a common dilemma facing all the nations around the world, and they all betake themselves in the working for whatever is possible to regulate and control electronic transactions through legislative means and innovations. Not to mention the complexity of legal intervention in case of transnational transactions prosecuted electronically, again, by reason of the unique feature characterizing electronic transaction, so a basic tune for the working toward the formulation of electronic trade legislation is the buildup of consensus so as to being domestic effort in alignment with international reality. 4. Studies on the Topics of Digitalized Merchandise Any trade of digitalized goods, without regard to whether such is taken as a commodity pursuant to civil codes, would hardly quality for being categorized as sort of authorization or anonymous contract, they would more appropriately be ascribed as like purchase vs. sale and be detitle with accordingly. Given that on-line delivery or downloading, albeit differing from the transfer delivery that is specified in civil codes, still, want of material delivery would not necessarily mean want of legally deemed transfer or delivery. That intangible network transmission would grant the purchaser de facto control of the object in question, then ascertaining of the point of time of transfer of risk, may very well be prosecuted in accordance with provisions in the civil code. As regards assumption of responsibility for flaw, trade of commercial software against on-line payment may reasonably be regarded as categorized debt against which buyer is entitled to delivery of flawless commodity; as to reinstatement of obligations upon dissolution of contract, the point lies not with returning of the object as received, but with returning of the right to use the software concerned, In the event of virus being entrained with the purchase which is an object in question, damage incurred to the buyer is usually in the form of damaged hardware or falsification, deletion of files, that of loss of inherent interests, as to such forms of damage or loss buyer may exercise multiple means of indemnifications, still, the legal status of filed date and principle to quantify such loss in view of indemnification will have to be defined commensurate with evolution of both theory and practice. Overall, as far as transactions of software against on-line payment are concerned, civil law as is still adequate without much ado. As to the question whether digitalized commodities qualify for postal trades where Consumer Protection Law applies, to balance the proper interests claimable to both consumers and the entrepreneur, and to rule out consumer's abuse of rights where ethics is at risk, it is fit and proper to restrict or rule out the transaction of certain commodities under specified categories, For one thing, considering the risks of digital date or digitalized commodities containing digitalized information, in respect of which copying or reproduction is as easy an pie, as to which it is not easy to ascertain whether the consumer has indeed returned the utility right, there is reason to doubt the suitability of granting unilaterally the consumer the right of rejection. Still, in so far as the digitalized commodity remains unopened, or that it is supplied with copying or reproduction procedures, product initiation means, then the risk of copying or reproduction is ruled out and in this instance Consumer Protection Law should apply notwithstanding. 5. Topics Relating to Consumer Protection and Privacy Protection The latest amendment to Consumer Protection Law with respect to electronic trades by including postal purchase on the Internet under Article 2 Section 10, and by the addition of Article 19-1 to allow for the application of the Hesitation Period respecting postal purchase trades, means more comprehensive protection for on-line consumers all right, still, due to the riddling complexity of the operation of electronic commerce at least a portion of the contents of transaction hardly fit the latest provisions in Consumer Protection Law, such that conflict seems to have emerged between protection for the consumers and reasonable risks borne by the entrepreneur. It is therefore suggested that the competent authorities consult the “Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services Directive (Directive 97/7/EC)” issued by the European Union with regard to the exclusion of contractual obligations, and conduct a comprehensive review of contents possible for inclusion in a piece of electronic transaction so as to delete commodities or services inappropriate for stipulation under Article 19 and article 19-1 by amendments to existent legislation, both administration and legislature ought to reinforce efforts in relevant protection mechanism to meet the challenging the Internet Age of our times paralleled with efforts to go in line with ongoing trends for consumer's protection on the international scenario. Next, responding to the point of key interest to consumers regarding protection of personal date entangled in B2C electronic transactions, the Ministry of Justice has publicized the protocol of amendments to Personal Date Act, whereby the scope of coverage extend to overall latitudes without discrimination, incorporating the obligation to serve notice respecting the collection and use of data, restriction on the collection of children's data and of sensitive data, group litigation, and increase of indemnity amounts. Upon legislative ratification of amendments to Personal Data Protection Act in the future, operators of electronic trades will have to face certain restrictions collecting data on websites in addition to being charged with duty of notice, so that without securing consent from the person whose data is being solicited for collection, the operator may not engage in inappropriate use, let alone selling of personal data in question, it is anticipated that our existent on-line marketing mode would hence go through substantial change. To prevent operators of electronic transactions in this country from frustrations adapting to the forthcoming statutory amendments, it is suggested that the competent authorities upon legislation of said amendments prepare models of policy for protection of personal privacy confronting operation of electronic transactions. 6. Topics Relating to Cash Flow titlehough respecting electronic transactions, safe payment scheme has already been established for the market; further to that, the Banking Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission, Executive Yuan, has published aimed at web banking operations “Pattern Contracts for Personal Computerized Banking Services and Web Banking Service” and stipulated “Criterion for Banking Institution's Operation and Safety Control of Electronic Banking Services”, to ascertain safeguarding of web payments; as regards petty payments amendment has been made to Banking Law by the introduction of Article 42-1, whereby cash buildup cards derive their legality basis, along with Procedures governing Bank's issue of cash buildup cards implemented such that such cards are available for on-line transactions, these are much in the promotion phase, yet distant to universal application. In practice, it is common and popular for credit cards to be used in on-line transactions, still, such form of payment could strike a potential risk for the card owners, to effectively protect card owners' safety at consumption and proper interests, it is suggested that the competent authorities promptly institute “Pattern Contract Terms Respecting Web Transactions Using Credit Cards” to meet inadequacies of stipulation on credit card operation over on-line transactions. Concurrent with the increased frequency of cash flow via the internet, there may develop more of payment tools in the foreseeable future, and more funds may come and go via the Net, however, the existent legislation respecting electronic transfer of funds currently is far from adequate, it is appealed that the competent authorities institute relevant legislation in time to help build a sound and wholesome environment for out net financial industry as well. 7. Tax Related Topics Internationally there has not reached, to this day, unified consensus respecting complicated net taxing policy, since that taxation with respect to on-line transactions is not as simplistic as would suffice the notion that “as long as there is income, there is duty”, it involves by and large concerns such as development of the Internet industry, fairness of taxation and even national competition, so in so far as net taxation is concerned, the concern should extend to deliberation of complementally measures apart from just reviewing if existent taxation laws are adequate for exploitation and in the negative case, if ad hoc stipulation is required
From the Expansion of WAGRI, Japan's Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform, into a Smart Food Chain to Discuss Smart Measures in Responding to the PandemicFrom the Expansion of WAGRI, Japan's Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform, into a Smart Food Chain to Discuss Smart Measures in Responding to the Pandemic Yu Yu Liu I. Introduction For the past few years, Taiwan has been progressively developing smart agriculture. During this process, general agricultural enterprises and farmers are challenged with and discouraged by expensive equipment installations and maintenance costs. The creation of a new business model which facilitates the circulation and application of agricultural data may lower the threshold of intellectualization acquisition, and become the key to the popularization and implementation of smart agriculture. This article shall analyze the strategy of promoting the use of data circulation for smart agriculture in Japan, which has a similar agricultural paradigm as Taiwan, and provide a reference for the development of smart agriculture in Taiwan. Japan is facing the same problems as Taiwan, in terms of the aging farmers and low birth rates, that lead to the lack of successors. The Japanese government proposed the concept of Society 5.0 in 2016, expecting to use information and communication technology (ICT) to drive the development of various fields of society[1]. In the agricultural field, the use of ICT in agriculture can facilitate the transmission of experience by turning the tacit knowledge of experienced farmers into externalized data. At that time, there were many ICT system service technologies developed by private companies In Japan, but the system services provided by various companies were not compatible with each other due to the lack of collaboration, and the data formats and standards produced by ICT system providers were varied; furthermore, the data in the public sector (research and administrative agencies) was also divided and managed independently. To facilitate the integration, management, and circulation of agricultural data, the Japanese Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform (WAGRI[2]) was born. II. The Development of WAGRI 1. Japan's Prime Minister directed the construction of a data platform The Japanese government held the 6th Future Investment Conference[3] on March 24, 2017, chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who mentioned that in order to cultivate safe and tasty crops, the government and the private sector should provide each other with updated information on crop growth conditions, climate, maps, etc., and build an information collaboration platform that can be easily used by anyone by mid-2017, with all the necessary data fully disclosed. The project was handed over to the IT General Strategy Headquarters[4] to realize the above-mentioned platform. At the 10th Future Investment Conference, held on June 9, 2017, the Future Investment Strategy 2017[5] was announced with the goal of realizing "Society 5.0". During the conference, it was mentioned that the "Japanese Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform (hereinafter referred to as WAGRI), which is based on publicly available information from the agriculture, forestry, and water industries, such as agricultural, topographical, and meteorological data held by the public sector, that can be shared and used for a variety of purposes, would be constructed in 2017. 2. The Trial Run of WAGRI WAGRI is supported by the Cabinet Office's Phase 1 of the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), under one of the 11 projects entitled "Next Generation Innovation Technologies for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Industries"17[6] (which is managed by The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization [NARO]17[7]). The platform was constructed by the SFC Research Institute of Keio University17[8] in collaboration with an alliance of 23 organizations that participate in SIP research, including agricultural production corporations, agricultural machinery manufacturers, ICT providers, universities, and research institutions (e.g., Japanese IT companies NTT - Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Fujitsu Limited, major agricultural machinery manufacturer- Kubota Corporation, Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd.)17[9]. WAGRI has three major functions: "cooperation" (breaking down the barriers between different systems so that data is compatible and interchangeable), "sharing" (data is shared in a way chosen by the providers, so as to facilitate the establishment of a business model for data exchange and use), and "provision" (soil and meteorological data are provided by public and private sectors to help facilitate data acquisition and subsequent circulation). During the trial run, there were practical cases that demonstrated that after the implementation of WAGRI, the costs of labor and time spent on data collection and utilization had been significantly reduced17[10]. 3. The Independent Operation of WAGRI In April 2019, WAGRI, which was originally supported by the SIP program, was transferred to NARO to be the main operating body and officially start the operation. With the updated use of the information required to operate the WAGRI platform independently, starting in April 2020, the original no-fee approach has been changed. Organizations wishing to use WAGRI are required to pay variable fees according to the following two methods of using the platform [11]: (1)Data users (those who use WAGRI data), data users-and-providers (those who use WAGRI data and provide data to WAGRI) ·Monthly fee of 50,000 yen for platform use. ·If fee-based data is accessed, a separate data usage fee must be paid. (2)Data providers (those who provide data to WAGRI) ·Monthly fee of 30,000 yen for platform use. ·Proviso: If the data provided is free of charge, in principle, there is no requirement to pay the platform utilization fee. III. Application of WAGRI’s Expansion in Response to the Pandemic The Smart Food Chain Alliance[13], which is supported by one of the 12 projects of the SIP Phase 2 program - "Smart bio industry / basic agricultural technology[12]", will expand WAGRI, which was established with the support of the SIP Phase 1 program, to build a smart food chain platform (WAGRI-dev for short).The main mission of the Smart Food Chain Alliance is to build a smart food chain (commercialized services are expected to begin in 2025) that enables the interoperability of data related to food processing, distribution, sales, and exports, to serve as a basis for fresh food logistics in Japan. This platform is built on the framework of WAGRI, and expanded to WAGRI-dev. In response to the pandemic, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly issued the "Interim guidance for COVID-19 and Food Safety for competent authorities responsible for national food safety control systems[14]" on April 7, 2020. Based on these guidelines, the Smart Food Chain Alliance of the Japanese SIP program "Smart bio industry / basic agricultural technology" has developed "Guidelines for the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Countermeasures". As part of the above-mentioned program, the "Japanese Food Guidelines Collaboration System (WAGRI.info, in short)"[15] developed countermeasure applications to respond to the pandemic. WAGRI.info opened its website on July 13, 2020 to accept food safety registrations from food and agricultural product related companies. This registration is not limited to those who meet the COVID-19 countermeasure guidelines, but also those who meet the existing quality and safety management guidelines (e.g. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), etc.). It also provides a corporate search function for general public use. WAGRI.info is a part of WAGRI-dev, and will add various data collaboration functions and measures in the future to prevent data manipulation and unauthorized access. The Japanese government originally expected to build the world's first smart food chain platform that includes data from production to processing, distribution, sales and exporting by expanding WAGRI; in response to the pandemic, related functions were added to create a food safety information network. In Taiwan, there are also data platforms related to smart agriculture that provide OPEN DATA interface functions[16], and the development of food safety traceability integrated application systems to provide information on the flow of school lunch ingredients. In addition to Japan's WAGRI model of data integration and sharing that, can be used as a model for the development of smart agriculture in Taiwan, WAGRI.info's approach can also be used as a reference for domestic food safety policies, in response to the pandemic. [1]"The Science and Technology Basic Plan", Cabinet Office of Government of Japan website: https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/kihonkeikaku/index5.html (last viewed on 07/12/2021). [2]WAGRI is a data platform that consists of a variety of data and services connected to form a wheel that coordinates various communities and promotes "harmony", with the anticipation of leading innovation in the field of agriculture. The word is formed by the combination of WA + AGRI (WA is the Japanese word for harmony + AGRI for agriculture). WAGRI website, https://wagri.net/ja-jp/ (last visited on 07/12/2021). [3]As the command headquarters of the Japanese government for implementing economic policies and realizing growth strategies, the Headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalization has been holding a "Future Investment Conference" session approximately every month since 2016, to discuss growth strategies and accelerate social structural reforms, so as to expand future investment. "Headquarters for Japan’s Economic Revitalization", Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet website, http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/keizaisaisei/ (last visited on 07/12/2021). [4]The Japanese government has been actively promoting the use of IT as a means of helping to solve social issues in various fields. In 2000, the IT Basic Act (Basic Act on the Formation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society) was enacted in Japan, and in the following year, the IT Strategy Headquarters (Strategic Headquarters for the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society) was established in accordance with the said laws. In 2013, in accordance with the Government Chief Information Officer (CIO) Act, the Cabinet Secretariat established the position of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Information Technology Policy (Government CIO, in short), and IT Strategic Headquarters was integrated with the GCIO to be the IT Comprehensive Strategy Headquarters (Strategic Headquarters for the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society, IT Comprehensive Strategy Headquarters) to rapidly promote the key policies for an advanced telecommunications network society, and to break the vertical gap of the ministries and departments, and to connect the entire government horizontally. "Strategic Headquarters for the Promotion of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society" (IT Comprehensive Strategy Headquarters), Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet website, https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/it2/ (last visited on 07/12/2021). [5]Hsu, Yu-Ning, "The 10th Future Investment Conference, held at the Prime Minister's Residence of Japan, proposing Japan's "Future Investment Strategy 2017”, to realize "Society 5.0" as its goal", Science & Technology Law Institute website, https://stli.iii.org.tw/article-detail.aspx?no=64&tp=1&i=72&d=7844, (last visited on 07/12/2021). [6]Focusing on the important issues of "Society 5.0" in conjunction with the key areas of governance of the Future Investment Conference, the Cabinet Office set up an annual budget for science and technology to help create and promote the "Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)". The first phase of the SIP is a five-year program running from FY2014 to FY2018. "Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)", Cabinet Office website, https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/gaiyo/sip/index.html (last visited on 07/12/2021). Qiu, Jin-Tien (2017), "Technology Innovation Strategy for Realizing the Super Smart Society (Society 5.0) in Japan", National Applied Research Laboratories website, https://portal.stpi.narl.org.tw/index/article/10358 (last visited on 07/12/2021) [7]The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, NARO in short, is a national research and development corporation for agricultural and food industry technology. [8]The SFC Research Institute, located on the Shonan-Fujisawa campus of Keio University, is a research institute affiliated with the Graduate School of Policy and Media Studies, the Department of General Policy, and the Department of Environmental Intelligence, and is an important research institute involved in the development of smart agriculture in Japan. Professor Atsushi Shinjo is the research director of WAGRI, and he is also the Deputy Government CIO of the Cabinet Secretariat and the Acting Director of the IT Strategy Office, contributing to the creation of the "Agricultural Information Creation and Distribution Promotion Strategy". He also serves as the President of the WAGRI Council and the Director of NARO's Agricultural Data Collaboration, and facilitates the coordination between WAGRI and Japan's smart agriculture empirical Project. He is a key player in the Japanese government's efforts to promote the flow of agricultural data, and is committed to promoting the development of smart agriculture in Japan. Keio Research Institute at SFC website, https://www.kri.sfc.keio.ac.jp/ (last visited on 07/12/2021). [9]IoTNEWS, Building an ‘Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform’ Using Microsoft Azure Through Industry-government-academia Collaboration to Realize Digital Agriculture" 05/15/2017, https://iotnews.jp/archives/56366 (last visited on 07/12/2021). [10]Shinjo, Atsushi, "ICT changes society: Development of agricultural data collaboration platform and future plans, Technology and Promotion : Journal of the National Council of Agricultural Promotion and Staff Council Organization, December, pp. 24-26 (2017); Technology Policy Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, "Construction of agricultural data collaboration platform", 2018/09，http://www.affrc.maff.go.jp/docs/smart_agri_pro/attach/pdf/smart_agri_pro-15.pdf .(last visited on 07/12/2021). [11]"The Use of the Agricultural Data Collaboration Platform (WAGRI) Since FY2019", NARO website https://www.naro.go.jp/project/results/juten_fukyu/2018/juten01.html (last visited on 07/12/2021). , NARO website https://www.naro.affrc.go.jp/laboratory/rcait/wagri (last visited on 07/12/2021). [12]Same as Note 6; The SIP Phase 2 plan runs for a total of approximately five years, from the end of FY2017 to FY2022. [13]The construction of a smart food chain is one of the main research topics of the project. The members of the Smart Food Chain Alliance include: the Cabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and other government organizations as observers, and more than 70 organizations as participants, including local governments, academic and research institutions, agricultural production corporations, wholesale markets, mid-marketers, logistics industries, retail businesses, manufacturers, and ICT providers (The representative of the Alliance is the Keio Research Institute at SFC), reference Note 13. SIP vol. 2, [Symposium on "Smart Bio-industry and Agricultural Technology" 2020 - Aiming to build a new smart food chain] 03/10/2020, WAGRI website, https://wagri.net/ja-jp/News/generalnews/2020/20200310 (last visited on 07/12/2021). [14]See FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZASTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS [FAO], COVID-19 and Food Safety: Guidance for Food Businesses: Interim guidance (Apr. 7, 2020), http://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/1275311/ (last visited Oct. 8, 2020). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization jointly issued Interim guidance for COVID-19 and Food Safety for competent authorities responsible for national food safety control systems, Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, http://www.caiq.org.cn/kydt/902625.shtml (last visited 07/12/2021). [15]WAGRI.info Office, "WAGRI.info (Food Guideline Collaboration System) website launched and began accepting business registration", 07/13/2020, https://kyodonewsprwire.jp/release/202007131927 (last visited on 07/12/2021). Japanese Food Guideline Collaboration System WAGRI.info website, https://www.wagri.info/ (last visited on 07/12/2021). [16]Smart Agriculture Common Information Platform Website, https://agriinfo.tari.gov.tw/ (last visited 07/12/2021); "Smart Agriculture 4.0 Common Information Platform Construction (Phase II) Results Presentation", 12/12/2019, Smart Agriculture Website, https://www.intelligentagri.com.tw/xmdoc/cont?xsmsid=0J141518566276623429&sid=0J338358950611186512, (last visited on 07/12/2021).
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