Japan is a major U.S. ally commercially and otherwise. What is the Japanese approach to personal data privacy, and how does it differ from the U.S.’s privacy culture?

Erik Jacobs addresses the differences in how privacy is conceived and addressed in Japan in contrast to the complex U.S. system that has no overarching federal law about how our personal information is collected, stored, sold, and otherwise handled. Erik advised the White House Office of Science and Technology and coordinated policy at the U.S. Energy Department during the prior administration. Fluent in Japanese and English, Erik is now Policy Manager for the U.S. and Asia at Access Partnership, a leading global public policy firm dedicated to opening markets for technology. He discusses the Japanese attitude toward privacy policy and Japan’s 2022 Act on Protection of Personal Information (APPI), a comprehensive personal data privacy code that augments sectoral and other laws governing the flow of personal data.

Tune in to learn Japan’s approach and what the U.S. can learn from how a leading Asian ally developed a national approach to data privacy protection.

If you have ideas for more interviews or stories, please email info@thedataprivacydetective.com.

Data Privacy Detective Podcast

Episode 87 - Japan’s Data Privacy Approach

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Data privacy is the footprint of our existence. It is our persona beyond ourselves, with traces of us scattered from birth certificates, Social Security numbers, shopping patterns, credit card histories, photographs, mugshots and health records. In a digital world, where memory is converted to 0’s and 1’s, then instantly transformed into a reproduction even in 3D, personal data is an urgent personal and collective subject. Those who wish to live anonymous lives must take extraordinary measures to succeed in that improbable quest, while those who hope for friendship or fame through the spread of their personal data must learn how to prevent theft of their identity and bank account. 

If you have ideas for interviews or stories, please email info@thedataprivacydetective.com.

The internet in its blooming evolution makes personal data big business – for government, the private sector and denizens of the dark alike. The Data Privacy Detective explores how governments balance the interests of personal privacy with competing needs for public security, public health and other communal goods. It scans the globe for champions, villains, protectors and invaders of personal privacy and for the tools and technology used by individuals, business and government in the great competition between personal privacy and societal good order.

We’ll discuss how to guard our privacy by safeguarding the personal data we want to protect. We’ll aim to limit the access others can gain to your sensitive personal data while enjoying the convenience and power of smartphones, Facebook, Google, EBay, PayPal and thousands of devices and sites. We’ll explore how sinister forces seek to penetrate defenses to access data you don’t want them to have. We’ll discover how companies providing us services and devices collect, use and try to exploit or safeguard our personal data.

And we’ll keep up to date on how governments regulate personal data, including how they themselves create, use and disclose it in an effort to advance public goals in ways that vary dramatically from country to country. For the public good and personal privacy can be at odds. On one hand, governments try to deter terrorist incidents, theft, fraud and other criminal activity by accessing personal data, by collecting and analyzing health data to prevent and control disease and in other ways most people readily accept. On the other hand, many governments view personal privacy as a fundamental human right, with government as guardian of each citizen’s right to privacy. How authorities regulate data privacy is an ongoing balance of public and individual interests. We’ll report statutes, regulations, international agreements and court decisions that determine the balance in favor of one or more of the competing interests. And we’ll explore innovative efforts to transcend government control through blockchain and other technology.

In audio posts of 5 to 10 minutes each, you’ll get tips on how to protect your privacy, updates on government efforts to protect or invade personal data, and news of technological developments that shape the speed-of-bit world in which our personal data resides.

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Episode 87 - Japan’s Data Privacy Approach

Data Privacy Detective Podcast

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