Children’s advocacy groups called for secure protection of childcare surveillance footage on Monday. Specifically, a new provision in Taiwan’s Childcare Services Act has sparked serious privacy concerns. The act mandates uploading footage to a regulatory surveillance cloud system for centralized storage. Consequently, twenty childhood education groups gathered outside the Legislative Yuan to protest the policy. They argued that the system violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The groups also warned that cybersecurity breaches could leak highly private footage.
The new act passed on April 14 requires 30 day retention of recordings. This mandate applies specifically to children aged two years and younger. Childcare centers must upload this footage to a government surveillance cloud system. However, privacy advocates fear that hackers could target this centralized database of vulnerable children. The surveillance cloud system would store footage of diaper changes and undressing. Therefore, these private moments would become vulnerable to unauthorized access and leaks.
The advocacy groups called for three key principles in subsidiary regulations. First, they want to avoid comprehensive real time surveillance of children. Second, video uploads and access must require written parental consent. Third, clear limits and a regulatory framework for accessing footage are essential.
Childcare centers have used surveillance cameras since 2020 without major issues. Nevertheless, institutions should upgrade their own systems rather than use a centralized cloud. The Child Education and Nursing Association president Chiang Shu jung made this argument. He said installing excessive surveillance does not equal genuine protection for children. Moreover, the government should engage in further dialogue with educators and parents instead. Penalizing nearly 2,000 childcare providers based on a single case is unreasonable.
The surveillance cloud system centralizes footage from full coverage cameras across Taiwan. This means even private moments such as diaper changes are recorded and stored. Taiwan Early Childhood Education Association president Yeh Jo chiao raised this concern. She said centralizing all footage in one cloud poses serious hacking risks. As a result, she urged the government to give the policy more careful consideration.
A mother of three called the surveillance cloud system dangerous for revealing vulnerable situations. She said it remains unclear where the videos would even be stored long term. Similarly, the Chinese Early Childhood Education Association chairman Su Chuan chen asked for public input. He said the government should take public views into account during subsidiary regulation drafting.
Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung liang responded to the privacy concerns on Monday. He said data in the surveillance cloud system would only be accessible according to legal procedures. There would be no arbitrary or real time viewing of the footage. He also emphasized that there would be no privacy leaks from the system. Additionally, the government will draft detailed subsidiary regulations for the surveillance cloud system. Exact implementation details will be discussed with all relevant parties soon.
