The Diet enacted a bill Wednesday to create "super cities" where artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies are utilized to resolve social problems. The bill revising the national strategic special zone law passed the House of Councilors by a majority vote with support mainly ...
How South Korea turned urban planning system into a virus tracking database
System seen as critical in helping health authorities identify coronavirus hotspots.
Apple and Google ban use of location tracking in coronavirus contact tracing apps
Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Apple and Google, whose operating systems ...
The aging of the population continues despite government efforts.
A dispatch from the heart of Japan’s coronavirus epidemic
Disputes over privacy rights and disjointed data collection are spurring tensions between reporters and Tokyo officials about the capital's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japanese government to release coronavirus contact-tracing app in May
The new app will detect nearby phones with the same app and send alerts to those who have been in close contact with users diagnosed as infected with the coronavirus.
Japanese couldn't resist blossoms despite pandemic, phone data shows
Big data provided by a mobile phone carrier backed speculation that Japanese people scaled back efforts to voluntarily refrain from going out to prevent the spread of the coronavirus on the three-day weekend in March, a study has shown. Crowds of people not much different ...
Strength in numbers: A more open approach to tracking the virus in Japan
Like many foreign residents of Japan during the early days of the country's COVID-19 outbreak, Shane Reustle and Jiahui Zhou recall poring over websites run by the health ministry and local municipalities to try to get a clear picture of how infections were spreading ...
Coronavirus 'tracing' by smartphone: A key to reopening society?
Can an app contain the pandemic? Interest is growing in smartphone technology as a potential key to ending lockdowns and reopening economies around the world. Digital "contact tracing" would allow mobile systems to log instances where people have been in proximity with an infected person ...
Yahoo Japan to give health ministry data on potential coronavirus clusters
The company will only hand over data from users who have consented. The ministry is to receive only post-analysis data, so the government won't be able to ID individuals.
Facebook, promising privacy, draws on user data to help battle coronavirus
Facebook is providing anonymous data about users' movements and relationships to help researchers better anticipate where the coronavirus might spread. The leading online social network is augmenting maps on "population movement" with tools to glean insights in ways that still protect people's privacy, according to ...
Japan's government adopts bill to tighten rules on personal data
The government on Tuesday adopted a bill requiring companies to obtain consent from users when handing over personal data, such as internet browsing history, to third parties. The bill, approved at a Cabinet meeting, requires consent when it is clear that the data can be ...
