Is the privacy of Japanese citizens threatened amid the development of a digitized society? The Yomiuri Shimbun inteviewed Takehiro Oya, a professor in philosophy of law at Keio University. Oya was born in 1974. He was a Nagoya University professor before taking his current post in 2015. His publications include "Jiyu towa Nanika: Kanshi Shakai to 'Kojin' no Shoshitsu" (What is freedom? Surveillance society and annihilation of "individuals"). Below is an excerpt of the interview.
Thanks to the development of a digital society, all kinds of information about people in this country has become stored in the systems of big tech companies and other organizations. It is true that there is now an environment in which it is technically possible to strip away people's privacy and monitor them. Yet I think there is little possibility that Japan will use big data to monitor its people as China or some other countries do.
For example, an individual person's criminal record, medical history, court records and other such information are managed by different systems. There is no system for the government to cross-check those records at one go and instantly bare everything about an individual.
Administrative bodies are bound by legislation for the protection of personal information, and it is unlikely that the separate systems will be integrated anytime soon.
A smartphone application for finding close contacts of people infected with the novel coronavirus has been designed to protect privacy with high security. If the government is to make use of the personal information of people in this country from now on, it is necessary to make rules with emphasis on protecting privacy.
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