Government Internet Surfing Lies!

Politics Taiwan Politics
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[quote=“Taipei Times”]

Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-Tsang said that the Cabinet had never prohibited staff members from surfing the Internet at work.

“What you read in the newspapers is not true. It was a piece of twisted information” Cheng said yesterday at a news conference.

The press conference was called in response to a story published in the Chinese-language newspaper, the China Times, which reported that the Cabinet had issued an order that staff members cannot surf the Internet during office hours as the Cabinet is trying to protect classified information from being hacked.

Cheng said that staff members who deal with classified information use two computers at work, one for regular tasks and Internet access and the other for dealing with classified information.

“This is called `quarantine for confidential information,’ and this mechanism has been carried out for years. This is not something new,” Cheng said.

"We have never ordered any fellow government offices to carry out a ban on Internet access. I was sorry to see such a false news report as it has seriously damaged the government’s reputation and image," the spokesman said.
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003316643 [/quote]

Are DPP appointments unable to tell the truth at all? I don’t know about junior officials working for Cabinet members, but at Taiwan’s international development ministry, most program officers were not able to access the Internet at their own office cubicles.

From my recollection, this policy was implemented around June 2004. The rule did not apply to upper managment and foreigners (I was the only native-English speaker). Everyone else would have to go into a small room in the hallway when they wanted to use the Internet (only one computer in the whole room). Not very efficient at all for work purposes, and there was plenty of behind-the-scenes grumbling about the new inconveniences by the mid-level drones.

In the development ministry, these changes were enacted when a hacker was caught breaking into a program officer’s computer system in the technical cooperation department.

These policy changes were recommended by the DPP political appointments. Many long time technocrats were not happy with this setup because it makes work harder to complete having to wait in line to use a (one) computer and not being able to access the Internet from your office cubicle.

For example, I keep in regular contact with an official within the ministry on MSN Messenger. In a few instances, I have wanted to send her some pictures of my family, recent trip photos etc. She has mentioned that she is unable to view them on her own personal computer because of the rules and regulations that were enacted before I left. Therefore, I have to send her stuff through her personal email account. She can then view it from her home computer.

Mid-level officials can only access full Internet access from these Internet rooms. And let me tell you, one computer for each floor (the arrangement when I left in August 2005),was not sufficient for two full departments full of program officers and other personnel.

Cheng’s last paragraph is 100 percent bullshit!!!

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If reporters want to validate this story, why don’t they attend the TaiwanICDF Gala at the Grand Hotel on July 3. There will be lots of overseas mission staff, foreign development people from international organizations, ambassadors from powerful countries such as Burkina Faso, and perhaps even President Chen and the Premier will make an appearance (Chen will have a lot to talk about with some of the African and Latin American leaders, many of whom have a history of surrounding themselves with corrupt family members once in power).

Why don’t the reporters ask in front of all these important guests, why program officers at the Fund can’t even use their own computers to surf the web. The reporters should ask the MOFA people if this trust is symbolic of "people’s diplomacy" or is it a step back to the authoritarian past?

The reporter should then ask the Fund why the behaviour of their Chinese employees goes virtually unmonitored, but a foreigner, despite getting excellent performance reviews, glowing recommendation letters from the previous Secretary General (who was actually qualified for the position), and, more importantly, solid work results, is ordered to work at lunch for two years (against CLA rules), is promised to have his contract renewed by admin, and then is shafted without even an explanation. This treatment from a Fund that constantly mentions that Taiwan is a “civil society” nation that wants to contribute to international development in a meaningful way.

The reporter should then proceed to ask why DPP political appointment Yen-Shin Chou from the Policy and Planning Department (who have never had a real job outside of politics unless you count teaching at Global Village to be a job) drinks hard liquor and Corona beer during office hours. Previously, he worked at the Presidential Office. Didn’t the PO criticize Ma for drinking at banquets? :unamused: (everyone in my former department can attest to this)

The link to his bio is displayed below. The new English native speaker working there doesn’t seem to able to organize a bio very well.

icdf.org.tw/english/e_about_ … m075_id=34

The reporter should then ask why a program officer in investment and lending showed and sent a lot of porn pictures to colleagues by work email and bragged that he accompanied upper management to hostess clubs on official work time (you learn so much about office shenanigans by taking an occasional smoke break).

The reporter should then ask why an accountant was not reprimanded for making accounting errors on the annual bonuses and had to ask everyone to give back their bonuses after they were dispersed. Could it be because of a close (wink wink) connection with a very senior figure? People sure love to gossip at the TaiwanICDF. (this story was told to me by a program officer (also a flatmate of mine) in the education and training department – now working as a personal secretary to a very powerful banking magnate in Taiwan).

There is an image the Fund wants the outside world to see and then there is a much more dark reality. You would think these political appointments would have the “brains” to treat people better that have good information gathering skills and who have collected this sort of information for three years.

I forgive these bastards for what they did to me, but not for the pain and suffering they caused my family.

:smiling_imp: