The following is excerpted from an interview with Takuya Hirai, minister in charge of digital transformation.
The digital agency planned to be established next year will not only reform the government administrative system, but also serve as an organization playing a role in our nation's growth strategy. It will strongly drive the digitization of society as a whole in areas such as medical care, education and disaster response. I also want to consider its relation to critical infrastructure, including communications and electrical power.
There are many bills that need to be prepared ahead of the regular Diet session. In addition to revision of the information technology basic law and the establishment of the digital agency, amendments are needed in statutes dealing with personal information protection, the My Number system and the basic resident registration system.
The amendment to the IT basic law will be an indication of a move toward a Japanese style of digitization that does not leave anyone behind nor promotes inequality. We will ensure that all citizens will receive the benefits of digitization.
I want the digital agency to be born small and grow large. I expect in the end it will be on a scale somewhere between that of Britain (1,700 employees) and the U.S. (500). It is only natural that the chief of the agency should be sought from the private sector. If we can find talented personnel among various projects that demand specialized input from the private sector, that will be a plus. At the moment we have no intention of setting a deadline for the agency to be established.
Regulatory reform is necessary to make online medical care permanent and to improve the environment for distance learning. Along with Taro Kono, minister in charge of administrative reform and regulatory reform, I would like to begin talks by the end of the week with both Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura and Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Koichi Hagiuda.
The My Number card will serve as a passport in the digital society. If it can be linked with health insurance cards and driver's licenses, it will become the most effective form of identification.
The card is not designed to store information, so even if it is lost, there is very little chance of personal information being leaked. But the public is not fully aware of this. In order to promote the use of the card, we need to step up public relations to show there are many good aspects to having one. In terms of security, we are also considering the introduction of biometric authentication in addition to the use of personal identification numbers.
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