Expansion of communications surveillance “domestic”: Full-scale consideration of revising the Cyber Defense Act – Government and ruling party

On the 9th, in response to a series of leaks of personal information due to cyberattacks, the government and ruling party began full-scale deliberations toward amending laws related to ``active cyber defense'' to prevent serious attacks. In order to improve the ability to detect attacks targeting Japan, adjustments will be made with a focus on expanding the scope of monitoring to include domestic communications.

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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ordered the revision of related laws to be considered at a related ministerial meeting on cybersecurity on the 6th, in conjunction with the compilation of an emergency measures package. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said at a press conference on the 9th, ``We will consider this from the perspective of strengthening our intelligence gathering capabilities.''

The pillars of active cyber defense are (1) communication monitoring, (2) intrusion and neutralization, and (3) strengthening of public-private collaboration. Specifically, items (2) and (3) came into effect in January, with the law requiring the police and Self-Defense Forces to monitor Internet communications during normal times and, if signs of an attack are detected, to infiltrate the server that was the source of the attack and render it harmless. (1) is scheduled to begin operation by next fall.

However, regarding (1), the ruling party is calling for the monitoring to be expanded to include "domestic" communications, citing insufficient information as the scope of monitoring under the current regulations is limited to communications between "foreign countries" and "between foreign countries and within Japan."

A government official pointed out, ``We need to consider amending the law while keeping in mind the arguments of the ruling party.'' Keitaro Ohno, secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party's National Cyber ​​Security Strategy Headquarters, stated at a headquarters meeting on the 9th, ``Revising the law is natural given the current situation.We will create content to ensure that we can take appropriate measures,'' indicating that the matter will be considered.

After the meeting, former Digital Minister Masaaki Taira told reporters, ``There is room for debate as to whether domestic communication can be handled as a black box.''

On the other hand, with regard to communications monitoring, some are questioning whether it is consistent with the ``secrecy of communications'' guaranteed by the Constitution. For this reason, the government and ruling party plan to proceed with discussions carefully, including by seeking opinions from experts.