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Governmental ID System in Japan

Posted by timothy on from the hello-citizen dept.

Kaan writes: "Japan just launched a mandatory, nationwide ID system whereby every citizen is assigned an 11-digit identification number. The database stores personal data (name, address, date of birth, gender, possibly more data) for each person. At least five municipalities are refusing to join the system, which accounts for ~4 million of the 127 million total. While some Japanese folks are refusing to cooperate, most are going along with it. Is this the beginning of the end of privacy in Japan? How much longer until we see something like that in the U.S.?"

5 of 518 comments (clear)

  1. Cool... by Spackler · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cool, Ashcroft got Japan to run his Beta Testing for him.

  2. Re:SS# by Safety+Cap · · Score: 5, Funny
    Thank god the government hasn't figured out the elusive secrets of table joins.
    Shh! Now they'll know about the secret (+) code!! Who knows what they will do with their newfound power?!
    --
    Yeah, right.
  3. They'll need more than 11 #'s! by SoSueMe · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article:
    "the new ID numbers -- for each of Japan's 126 million citizens...."
    Three paragraphs later:
    "About four million of Japan's 127 million people...."
    At that rate of population explosion, how long till they run out of number combos?

  4. Wait till you read this by Beautyon · · Score: 5, Funny

    [...]
    Now this is the beginning of activation for Japan's national ID systems: 11
    digit number national ID, networked resident record system based on the ID
    numbers, and national ID card that based on contactless radio transaction
    smartcard, with 32 bit CPU and co-processor supposed to handle crypto and
    digital signature, which will be issued from 2003.

    This status makes computer security specialists worried. If organized
    crimes or foreign spy agents get access to one of these, that could be a
    disaster. Clear and present danger is here now. World class crackers might
    be difficult to ignore temptations to try their penetration skills on this
    network because it is built on Windows NT/2000 servers and possibly MS SQL.
    You got the idea?
    [...]

    my bold emphasis (as if you needed it)

    Taken from Politech.

    Amazing ay?

    --
    ATH0 Bitcoin: 1DnwFLXczVZV8kLJbMYoheUrpqHesjxrSi
  5. Re:SS# by ThereIsNoSporkNeo · · Score: 5, Funny

    "If you're a US Citizen you do, ever since 1987 I believe."

    You sure of that date? I could've sworn it was closer to 1984...

    --
    With my dying breath, I curse Zoidberg!