Japan's "My Number" gov't monitoring system draws legal complaints from citizens

Regional courts in Japan have received suits against the government's "My Number" social security and tax-linked number system that will come into effect in January 2016.

The first round of suits were filed Tuesday by citizens in Ishikawa and Niigata prefectures, with lawsuits also to be filed at courts in Tokyo, Osaka and Sendai later in the day to invalidate the new number-based system.

The system purports to centralize sensitive documentation at city offices by way of the issuance of a 12-digit number, similar to a social security number in the U.S. or a national insurance number in the U.K., but the 50-strong group of citizens in Ishikawa claim the new system is in violation of privacy rights.

"There is a danger that people's privacy will be infringed through the leakage of information collected under the new system, " Masahiko Bo, who heads the plaintiff group in Ishikawa, was quoted as telling a press conference after filing the complaint with the Kanazawa District Court.

"We are also concerned that people may feel that they are being monitored by the government and refrain from acting freely," Bo said.

The plaintiffs said the government will now be able to freely gather citizens' personal information without consent or explaining how the data will be used. They have also argued that the information could easily be leaked owing to a lack of security and the numbers used by nefarious individuals or organizations to defraud people.

While the government maintains that the "My Number" law, which was passed in early October, was done so to streamline the current and somewhat analogue procedures of social security and taxation systems here, critics claim that the government's real aim is to clamp down on those who exploit laws' loopholes, along with those who may be erroneously claiming welfare benefits.

The growing number of plaintiffs around the country maintain, however, that the margins for abuse of the new system by the government and fraudsters far outweigh the mediocre benefits of modernizing local government's attempts at enhancing their people tracking capabilities.