Open Culture Foundation
財團法人開放文化基金會
The Open Culture Foundation (OCF) was formed in 2004, with the aim of supporting open source as an ideal. As a legal entity, we support Taiwan's more than thirty open-source communities. As open source and open culture continue to develop, because the Internet and technology also quickly develop, this has gradually led to the spread of technology and open culture. In the course of this, we also began to participate in digital human rights, to conduct advocacy on related issues, and to raise our voices on the digital rights of the public.
The digital chip on the ID would serve as a personal identification. OCF followed the issue for over three years, focusing on not only the digital safety issues that arose from the eID, but calling on the government to set up an institution to deal with personal information security issues based on relevant laws. This should take place at the same time as digital policy, ensuring personal data protection.
Delving into the multifaceted dimensions of digital human rights in Taiwan and the broader Asian region, with a focus on privacy and security.
Key Initiatives:
◉ "2022 Taiwan Digital Human Rights Report" - Assesses the human rights transparency of 20 digital service providers.
◉ "Digital Security Mapping for HRDs in Taiwan: Preliminary Results" - Uncovers the digital threats faced by 35 human rights organizations.
◉ "Empowering Privacy: Civil Society Strategies in East Asia's Digital Landscape" - Documents the action strategies of 19 Taiwanese, Hong Kongese, and South Korean civil society organizations in the face of digital authoritarianism.
Open data is the cornerstone of democracy in the digital age. The Taiwanese government has been promoting related policies for over a decade. In addition to our ongoing advocacy and efforts through various channels, we have also interviewed with experts and scholars from various fields, to explore how to improve the current situation from all perspectives.
In the Taiwan Open Government Report 2014-2016, OCF identified shortcomings in data quality, impact, digital capacity, and data governance. Through research, promotion, and user interviews on open data and open government, we aim to identify areas where the civil sector can assist in promoting this issue or establishing legal sources. In 2020, the government, referring to the international standards of the Open Government Partnership, promoted the National Action Plan for the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan. We also continue to pay attention to the reform of open government and parliament, and are committed to promoting related knowledge. We hope to work with civil society to achieve more public-private cooperation achievements. In 2022, we also published the "Open Parliament Research Report".
As the second National Action Plan for Open Government began proposing in 2024, OCF is trying to integrate the advocacy capacity of open source code, open data, and open government in the past, focusing on the shortcomings of the government's open data system and establishing better mechanisms for citizen participation in data and decision-making.
Each month, we hold a small gathering for Internet freedom. We also have made a booklet on Internet security. We try to raise awareness among the people of digital human rights and Internet freedoms. We also distribute our booklet to encourage people to have more awareness of their digital footprint, how data spreads on the Internet, and to have an increased awareness of this. This is most commonly regarding password management, data on the cloud, and digital infrastructure. Open source tools in three areas of website construction allow the public to establish a basic digital defense for themselves or their organizations.
