Identity Laws and Privacy Protection in a Modern State: The Legal History Concerning Personal Information in Taiwan (1895-2015)

This article investigates the continuity and transformation of the personal identity and identification legal systems in Taiwan. From 1895 to 2015, Japan and subsequently the Republic of China (ROC) ruled Taiwan and transplanted different legal systems of personal information to Taiwan. This article analyzes how these systems were applied to and impacted Taiwanese society in three periods: the Japanese rule period (1895–1945), the period of strict control by the ROC government (1945–1992), and the rise and evolution of the privacy period (1993–2015). When Taiwan was ruled by the Qing Empire (1683–1895), there was no precise personal information database in Taiwan. After the Sino-Japanese War, in 1895 the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan, which spent a ten years using its police to conduct surveys to collect person information of all residents in Taiwan. Based on the survey results, Japan established a modern household registration system to govern legal identity and identification affairs in Taiwan. While this personal database facilitated the enforcement of public policies, the main purpose of the Japanese household registration system was to allow the police to closely monitor the residents in Taiwan. After World War II, the ROC government ruled Taiwan since 1945. Using the Japanese household registration records as a foundation, the ROC government was able to quickly construct its own household registration system. Moreover, in order to counter the threats of the Communist Party in Mainland China, the ROC government combined the household registration system with the police system and issued National Identification Cards (National ID Cards) for every Taiwanese adult citizen for mobilization and surveillance. The combination of the police and the household registration systems was in effect until 1992. However, advanced computer technology made fingerprint databases feasible, which posed new threats to privacy rights. In 1997, the ROC Legislative Yuan amended the Household Registration Act to establish a fingerprint database for strengthening social order. Article 8 of the amended act required all Taiwanese adults to provide their fingerprints when they renewed their National ID Cards. This requirement raised heated debates on the issue of whether the government’s collection of fingerprints intruded on right of privacy. Responding to such dispute, in 2005 the Constitutional Court struck down Article 8 of the Household Registration Act for violating individual privacy rights. The repeal of the Household Registration Act signified a landmark event for privacy protection in Taiwan. After about one hundred years of suppression and surveillance, the Taiwanese people ultimately become aware of the value of privacy rights. Yet, due to the threats of terrorism and advanced technology, Taiwan and other countries are facing concerns about the collection of information, improvement of national security, and protection of privacy rights. The Taiwanese people, as well as people around the world, must carefully seek to balance these competing interests

Factors Affecting Aluminum Dissolve from Acidified Water Purification Sludge

Recovering resources from water purification sludge (WPS) have been gradually stipulated in environmental protection laws and regulations in many nations. Hence, reusing the WPS is becoming an important topic, and recovering alum from WPS is one of the many practical alternatives. Most previous research efforts have been conducted on studying the amphoteric characteristic of aluminum hydroxide for investigating the optimum pH range to dissolve the Al(III) species from WPS, but it has been lack of reaction kinetics or mechanisms related discussion. Therefore, in this investigation, water purification sludge (WPS) solution was broken by ultrasound to make particle size of reactants smaller, specific surface area larger. According to the reaction kinetics, these phenomena let the dissolved aluminum salt quantity increased and the reaction rate go faster

Numerical Analysis on a Perforated Muffler Applied in the Discharge Chamber of a Twin Screw Refrigeration Compressor Based on Fluid-Acoustic Coupling Method

The twin screw compressor has been widely used in the refrigeration systems due to advantages such as compact structure, stable operation, high efficiency and good adaptability. Intermittent gas flow generates gas pulsation that cause serious problems such as structural vibration and noise in the twin screw refrigeration compressor. Because the mechanical noise can be controlled well with the improvement of machining and assembly accuracy, the aerodynamic noise induced by gas pulsation even has become the main noise source of the twin screw refrigeration compressor. In order to reduce the pressure pulsation, a broadband perforated panel muffler applied in the discharge chamber of the twin screw refrigeration compressor is proposed based on the noise spectrum and flow characteristics of the compressor. In order to obtain the noise spectrum of the twin screw refrigeration compressor, the pressure fluctuation in discharge chamber based on a three-dimensional CFD simulation model is calculated, and the acoustical model is established based on fluid-acoustic coupling method. Then the impacts of different structural parameters on the performance of a perforated panel muffler are investigated, including perforation rate, perforation diameter and panel thickness. Through the optimization of the perforated muffler, a better reduction effect of broadband noise can be achieved. Results of fluid-acoustic coupled analysis can provide guidance on the design and optimization of the perforated muffler and noise reduction of the twin screw refrigeration compressor