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The Japanese government has decided to include stipulations on protecting the confidential data of software in future economic deals it signs, aiming to curb China and other countries that have requested such data from companies, sources say.
Japan's government intends to address the issue in economic partnership agreements and investment agreements when it signs them with other countries and regions, as advanced technologies such as the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence play an ever-growing role.
At Monday’s meeting of World Trade Organization member countries in Geneva, Japan was to propose that rules be established to prohibit WTO countries from making requests to divulge source code. The government ultimately aims to create a pact among countries and regions in favor of the idea.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement — which was officially signed in February by Japan, the United States and 10 other countries — prohibits signatories in principle from requesting private companies to disclose source code.
Revealing source code may leak a software creator’s critical development know-how, which could not only threaten the intellectual property of developers, but also make it possible to remotely control devices connected to the internet.
Japan aims to include similar stipulations to those under the TPP in economic deals with other countries and regions. The government has been discussing the issue in talks with Colombia and the European Union over economic partnership agreements, and also plans to deal with it during negotiations on investment agreements with Ghana, Morocco and Tanzania.
The move has been driven by China, which has made requests that foreign countries operating in the country disclose source code for information-related and other products, citing security checks among other reasons. It has been reported that Russia and some developing countries have made similar requests.
(THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN)
