FC: Japanese protest new national ID network

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Previous Politech message:

"Japan's national ID network -- already live, a week early"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03829.html

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From: Anonymous User <anonymous () remailer havenco com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Japanese Drop Out of New ID System

>From The Associated Press, available online at:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-defiance-in-japan0811aug10.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnationworld%2Dheadlines

Japanese Drop Out of New ID System

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

August 10, 2002, 10:28 PM EDT

TOKYO -- Ever since their computerized ID system switched on a few days
ago, Japanese citizens have dropped out in droves from what many resent
as a "big brother" monitoring of the people.

The dozens of protest groups that have popped up are planning a rally
Monday at which demonstrators will show their outrage by ripping up the
papers being sent out by the government to assign every citizen an
11-digit number.

"To start with, giving a number to people is a violation of our
individual human rights," said Eiji Yoshimura, one of the protesters.
"We have absolutely nothing to gain from this system."

Several local governments have refused to participate in the system,
which began last Monday. Yokohama, a Tokyo suburb of 3.4 million people,
is giving its residents a choice of hooking up or not.

The government is assigning each of Japan's 126 million citizens an ID
number that will link into a nationwide computer system. The idea is to
streamline Japan's cumbersome bureaucracy by making it easy to obtain
basic personal information during administrative procedures.

Critics worry about loss of privacy, and some fear government officials
will misuse the information.

The disenchantment some Japanese express toward the registry underlines
a deep, although often hidden, distrust of government that is
surprisingly common in a nation known for orderly, conformist behavior.

[...]




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