Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

A23
TECHNOLOGY Tuesday 25 april 2017

Taiwan’s “hacker minister” reshaping digital democracy

YOUKYUNG LEE only one gender should
AP Technology Writer do,” said Tang, who early
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — on showed she has a mind
Taiwan’s “digital minister” of her own.
Audrey Tang, a computer Seeking ways to stream-
prodigy and entrepreneur line math calculations, she
who taught herself pro- taught herself computer
gramming at age 8, says programming while only 8.
she’s a “civic hacker,” who She dropped out of school
like a locksmith uses spe- by the time she was 14. By
cialized skills to help rather the time she was 20 she
than harm. had already started a soft-
Appointed by leaders hop- ware company in Silicon
ing to better connect with Valley.
young voters who helped A dry wit, she quips that
sweep independence- sometimes people mistake
leaning President Tsai Ing- her height, 180 centime-
wen into office last year, ters, for her apparently ge-
35-year-old Tang is using nius-level IQ.
her expertise to more di- Tang’s involvement in poli-
rectly involve the public tics took off during Taiwan’s
in policymaking, and to Sunflower movement of
counter “fake news.” 2014, when she became
“Just by getting people to In this April 12, 2017 photo, Taiwan’s “digital minister” Audrey Tang speaks during an interview in well known for helping of-
listen to the ideas that they Seoul, South Korea. . ficials interact with citizens
don’t like, basically, devel- Associated Press using the internet during
ops their immune systems,” the exact degree of sup- stance includes allowing Tang objects to the term the protests against a trade
Tang said in an interview port for a particular posi- top-level computer game “fake news,” saying it’s un- agreement with Beijing.
with The Associated Press tion. The government can players in Taiwan to serve fair to journalists. But she Given the ever-present risk
while visiting Seoul for the use that data, for example, an alternative form of the says she finds U.S. President of cyberattacks, as digi-
annual Codegate interna- in negotiations over regu- island’s compulsory military Donald Trump’s enthusias- tal minister one of the first
tional hacking competition. lating Uber and other taxi service. That gives profes- tic use of Twitter “refresh- things Tang did after joining
“If people have already services, Tang says. sional e-sports “League of ing.” the Cabinet was to make
considered carefully even The approach reflects an Legend” players the same Trump’s short declarations, government information
the position of people they effort to encourage deep opportunities an Olympics though often surprising, systems more secure and
don’t agree with, they al- thinking and listening on a medalist would get. leave little leeway for misin- then rigorously test them for
ready have some kind of mass scale, unlike the frag- Next year, she plans to intro- terpretation, she contends. loopholes.
inoculation in their mind, so mented and “half-baked” duce classes on “informa- “If I make all my messages “The utmost importance is
that they will not fall victim ideas often found in social tion technology and me- self-contained and short, to get people to still see the
to rumors,” she said. media posts, said Ming-Yeh dia literacy” for all school then there’s no danger of internet as a secure place
Keeping the public en- Rawnsley, a research asso- years to help students learn being taken out of context. ... so that people can still
gaged is crucial given Tai- ciate at Centre of Taiwan to distinguish rumors and That’s the basic thing I’ve form communities where
wan’s status as a self-ruled Studies, SOAS University of falsehoods from facts. learned,” Tang said. “@re- it is still possible to talk with
democracy of 23 million London. “The idea is not about spot- alDonaldTrump uses Twitter strangers, to learn from
people that separated “It is important that Tai- ting ‘fake news’ but about ... the way it is meant to be strangers,” she said. “Basi-
from the Chinese mainland wanese government is being able to make de- (used),” she said. cally, if we don’t do our
amid civil war in 1949. thinking about practicing cisions ... so that people Tang is Taiwan’s first trans- job right on security on the
Communist-ruled Beijing in- deliberative democracy,” don’t get swayed in one gender government min- internet, it becomes a frag-
sists the two sides are part said Rawnsley. “While the way or another based on ister, a rarity especially in menting force instead of a
of a single Chinese nation. explosion of social media rumors,” Tang said. East Asia, where outspoken community force.”
Public opinion on the issue platforms creates many Taiwanese have taken av- conservative groups often The risk is that the online
is divided. exciting opportunities for idly to online forums like publicly condemn sexual world would become a
One of Tang’s initiatives is public expression and mass Twitter, whose 140-charac- minorities. place where people live
an artificial intelligence- participation, it also leads ter limit for posts favors writ- Not so in Taiwan, she says. “essentially in their own
powered system called to a phenomenon where ing in Chinese ideograms “I would say I’m just post- realities, and that is as un-
Pol.is that aggregates and everyone wants to talk, but that often can say more gender or post-genre, democratic and as non-
shares public views on poli- few care to listen.” with fewer characters than meaning that I don’t think humane as we can imag-
cy issues to help determine Tang’s digital-friendly in English. there should be things that ine,” she said.q