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数字化されるべきか、されざるべきか
住基ネットが5日、稼動した。個人情報漏えいの
問題に関しては各自治体が大いに検討するべきだ。
To be or not to be a number
What did 4 million Japanese living in Yokohama and five other municipalities have in common with Japan's 1.7 million foreign residents on Aug. 5? Out of the 127 million documented inhabitants of Japan, they — and they alone — did not have a new 11-digit "residents identification number." Everyone else got bar-coded on that day when Japan's new ID system kicked in.
Although the new scheme is called the "resident registry network system," it will not keep tabs on foreign residents. Rather, the government will continue to record them separately via the alien identification number that it has issued to them for decades.
That so many Japanese were able to escape the branding iron is a more amazing story. Some municipalities have refused to participate in the network because they don't feel confident that their residents' information will be stored securely. The Diet's recent failure to pass a privacy protection bill fuels their argument.
I am surprised that there was not an even greater outcry regarding the security and integrity issues. Have people forgotten what happened in April when Mizuho Holdings, the world's largest bank in terms of assets, went online for the first time? Thousands of ATMs went down and stayed down for days, more than 2.5 million transactions failed and the flow of billions of yen was disrupted.
If a network system in the competitive private sector was that faulty, it's a good bet that those in the public sector will be as bad or worse. And around the same time, a Defense Agency official admitted to having secretly filed away private information on people who had requested documents under Japan's Freedom of Information Act. Have people forgotten already?
Some people are against the network because of the principles involved. Indeed, there is something dehumanizing about attaching a number to a person, especially at birth. When asked why his town would disobey the government's directions, one mayor replied, "Look, a baby is not born into this world with an identification card clamped between its teeth." Now, there is a down-to-earth mayor. No wonder his town has been flooded with inquiries from people wanting to take up residency there.
Personally, I can see the benefits that a more sophisticated system would bring. For too many years, people have had to spend good time and money diving through, into and around Japan's infamous red tape. If the official records of residents could be accessed quickly and easily throughout the country, certain procedures would likely run more smoothly.
To be or not to be a number. The heads of the six "unhooked" municipalities weren't confident that the physical and human errors would be minimal, that adequate responses would be taken to offset malicious acts and that the system would be generally run in the best interests of the people. By all accounts, these decisions have been well-received by the better part of the people living there. For perhaps the first time in its history, Japan has a very significant number of unhammered nails bravely sticking their heads up. How long before they get hammered down? And for the 123 million of you who are sporting shiny, new numbers, I do hope yours is a lucky one.
Shukan ST: Aug. 23, 2002
(C) All rights reserved
- municipalities
- 自治体
- documented inhabitants
- 登録されている住民
- residents identification number
- 住民票コード(番号)
- got bar-coded
- バーコード化された
- kicked in
- 始まった
- scheme
- 仕組み
- resident registry network system
- 住民基本台帳ネットワークシステム
- keep tabs on 〜
- 〜の記録をつける
- via 〜
- 〜を通して
- alien identification number
- 外国人登録番号
- branding iron
- 焼き印
- Diet
- 国会
- privacy protection bill
- 個人情報保護法案
- fuels
- 強める
- outcry
- 激しい抗議
- security and integrity issues
- システムが安全で完全な状態かどうかという問題
- in terms of assets
- 資産において
- transactions
- 取り引き
- flow of 〜 was disrupted
- 〜の流れがとどこおった
- private sector
- 民間部門
- it's a good bet that 〜
- 〜は確かだ
- Defense Agency
- 防衛庁
- having secretly filed away 〜
- ひそかに〜をまとめていたこと
- Freedom of Information Act
- 情報公開法
- principles
- 本質
- dehumanizing
- 非人間的な
- clamped
- くわえて
- down-to-earth
- 現実的な
- has been flooded with inquiries
- 問い合わせが殺到している
- take up residency
- 居住する
- diving through, into and around 〜
- 〜をうまくすり抜ける
- infamous red tape
- 悪名高い煩雑なお役所手続き
- "unhooked"
- 「引っかかっていない」
- adequate responses
- 適切な対応
- offset malicious acts
- 悪質な行為を相殺する
- in the best interests of 〜
- 〜のために
- By all accounts
- 報道によると
- better part of 〜
- 大半の〜
- a very significant number of 〜
- かなりの数の〜
- unhammered nails bravely sticking their heads up
- 果敢に立ち向かう、打たれていないくい
- are sporting 〜
- 〜を見せびらかしている