Arab News Japan

TOKYO: An upcoming vote on a new law for the privatization and centralization of personal data is facing growing opposition in Japan.

Japan’s parliament is expected to vote on the bill within the next week and protest demonstrations are being held in front of the Diet (Japan’s parliament) building.

Those opposed to the bill have denounced the text of the law, which allows the state to exploit and centralize personal data such as sensitive data of residents relating to health, housing tax, retirement pensions and disability or chronic illness.

Such data is usually handled by local governments but the new law will see this data centralized. But much of the work will be done by private operatives, which opponents say will make the data less secure. They also fear that their data will be used to manipulate elections and to monitor citizens.

Parliamentarians from the Constitutional Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party were among those who expressed their fears that the law threatens individual freedoms and it could violate Japan’s constitution.