Japanese data strategies, global surveillance capitalism, and the “LINE problem”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/jnmr.v3i1.38966Keywords:
Diffractive genealogy; Surveillance capitalism; Japan; geopolitics of data; Decolonial theory.Abstract
This paper situates data practices in Japan in a diffractive genealogy of surveillance capitalism. It puts data conceptualized in three ways into focus: real data, data in information banks, and data of the super app LINE. While technology embodying these concepts of data is mainly used in Asia, this technology is entangled with discourses and legislation in Europe and practices of U.S. American surveillance capitalism in important aspects. This article empirically traces these entanglements and demonstrates how discourses around data sovereignty, geopolitical shifts, historical background, global political and economic trends, and international policies intermingle in contemporary accounts of data and digital sovereignty in Japanese context. Decolonial theory is consulted in order to account for Japan’s recent past as a non-Western territorial empire and the privileged position that Japanese experts on data have in the drafting of international data policies.
Downloads
References
Anzaldúa, Gloria (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.
Arendt, Hannah (1958). The Human Condition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Barad, Karen (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham: Duke University Press.
Barad, Karen (2010). Quantum Entanglements and Hauntological Relations of Inheritance: Dis/continuities, SpaceTime Enfoldings, and Justice-to-Come. Derrida Today, 3(2), 240–268. https://doi.org/10.3366/drt.2010.0206
Business Wire (2021, January 4). Palantir Technologies Expands Japan Business with New $22.5 Million Contract. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from Business Wire website: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210104005171/en/Palantir-Technologies-Expands-Japan-Business-with-New-22.5-Million-Contract
Chan, Tara Francis (2018, August 2). How a Chinese region that accounts for just 1.5% of the population became one of the most intrusive police states in the world. Retrieved June 18, 2021, from Business Insider Australia website: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/xianjiang-province-china-police-state-surveillance-2018-7
Chazan, Guy (2019, November 12). Angela Merkel urges EU to seize control of data from US tech titans. Financial Times. Retrieved September 6, 2021, from https://www.ft.com/content/956ccaa6-0537-11ea-9afa-d9e2401fa7ca
Colman, Felicity, Bühlmann, Vera, O’Donnell, Aislinn, & van der Tuin, Iris (2018). Ethics of Coding: A Report on the Algorithmic Condition [EoC] (No. H2020-EU.2.1.1). Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved December 28, 2021, from European Commission website: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/207025_en.html
Cortada, James W. (2012). The Digital Flood: The Diffusion of Information Technology Across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Couldry, Nick, & Mejias, Ulises A. (2019). Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject. Television & New Media, 20(4), 336–349. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476418796632
Cummings, William K. (2015). The Invisible Academy: A US Perspective on the Japanese Academic Profession. In Akira Arimoto, William K. Cummings, Futao Huang, & Jung Cheol Shin (Eds.), The Changing Academic Profession in Japan (pp. 235–241). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09468-7_16
Data Insight Henshūbu (2020, December 21). Dēta kōshin koku no Nihon ni katsuro wa aru ka. “Jōhō ginkō” ga mezasu, daisan no michi. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from NTT DATA website: https://www.nttdata.com/jp/ja/data-insight/2020/122102
Fahey, Robert A., & Hino, Airo (2020). COVID-19, digital privacy, and the social limits on data-focused public health responses. International Journal of Information Management, 55, 102181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102181
Goodman, Matthew P. (2021, February 2). Advancing Data Governance in the G7. Retrieved August 15, 2021, from CSIS: Center for Strategic and International Studies website: https://www.csis.org/analysis/advancing-data-governance-g7
Haraway, Donna (2003). The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Hillman, Jonathan E. (2021). The Digital Silk Road: China’s Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future. London: Profile Books.
Hitachi, Ltd. (2014, March). Daiikkai Morikawa Hiroyuki kyōju “Riaru dēta” to iu furontia ni Nihon no shōki ari. Retrieved May 20, 2019, from Hitachi IoT Platform Magazine website: http://www.hitachi.co.jp/products/it/it-pf/mag/special/2014_03rd/index.html
Hummel, Patrik, Braun, Matthias, Tretter, Max, & Dabrock, Peter (2021). Data sovereignty: A review. Big Data & Society, 8(1), 205395172098201. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720982012
Ishii Kaori (2020, December 11). Kyōsō sokushin e dēta iten katsudō, kyodai IT no dokusen o kangaeru. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from Nihon Keizai Shinbun denshiban website: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXKZO67192780Q0A211C2KE8000/
Jin, Dal Yong (2015). Digital Platforms, Imperialism and Political Culture. New York: Routledge.
Keizai Sangyōshō (2016a). Kongō no keizai kīwādo. METI Journal, 2016(8–9), 24.
Keizai Sangyōshō (2016b). Sangyō kōzō wa kō kawaru: Kadai kaiketsu de juyō o kanki! METI Journal, 2016(8–9), 8–9.
Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan (2021). Kokkai kaigi roku kensaku shisutemu. Retrieved September 15, 2021, from Kokkai kaigi roku kensaku shisutemu website: https://kokkai.ndl.go.jp/#
Kokuryō, Jirō (2021, March 22). Enjō kagakugo de Line (to hakyū sōdō) mondai. Retrieved December 27, 2021, from @jirok (Twitter account): https://twitter.com/jirok/status/1374130125202071553
Lehtiniemi, Tuukka, & Haapoja, Jesse (2020). Data agency at stake: MyData activism and alternative frames of equal participation. New Media & Society, 22(1), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819861955
Mainichi Shinbunsha (2020, September 26). Shasetsu: Bei no TikTok haijo, netto no jiyū ubawanai ka. Mainichi Shinbun, Tōkyō morning edition, p. 5.
Mainichi Shinbunsha (2021, March 24). Shasetsu: LINE no kojin jōhō, zusan na kanri, kaimei ga hitsuyō. Mainichi Shinbun, Tōkyō morning edition, p. 5.
Mauthner, Natasha S. (2016). Un/Re-Making Method: Knowing/Enacting Posthumanist Performative Social Research Methods through “Diffractive Genealogies” and “Metaphysical Practices.” In Victoria Pitts-Taylor (Ed.), Mattering: Feminism, Science, and Materialism (pp. 258–283). New York: New York University Press.
Mayer, Maximilian (2020). Europe’s Digital Autonomy and Potentials of a U.S.-German Alignment toward China. Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved December 29, 2021, from Johns Hopkins University website: https://www.aicgs.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Europes-Digital-Autonomy-and-Potentials-of-a-U.S.-German-Alignment-toward-China.pdf
Mignolo, Walter D. (2009). Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(7–8), 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275
Mignolo, Walter D. (2012). Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowleges, and Border Thinking (Paperback reissue, with a new preface). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mignolo, Walter D., & Walsh, Catherine E. (2018). On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press.
Morikawa Hideyuki (2019). Dēta doribun ekonomī: Dejitaru ga subete no kigyō sangyō shakai o henkaku suru. Tōkyō: Daiyamondo Sha.
Morita Hiroaki (2020). Jōhō ginkō bijinesu sannyū gaido: Rikatsuyō bijinesu kara jigyō sannyū made. Shōeisha.
Murata Tomonobu (2021). Tōnan Ajia no kojin jōhō hogo hōsei no kaisei dōkō to shuyō ronten. Bijinesu hōmu, 21(10), 45–48.
Naikaku-fu Chiteki Zaisan Honbu Kōsō Iinkai (Dainikai) (2019, December 26). Gijiroku. Retrieved October 10, 2021, from https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/titeki2/tyousakai/kousou/2020/dai2/gijiroku.pdf
Naikaku-fu Chiteki Zaisan Senryaku Suishin Jimukyoku. (2019, December 26). Dainikai kōsō iinkai jimukyoku setsumei shiryō. Presented at the Naikaku-fu Chiteki Zaisan Honbu Kōsō Iinkai (Dainikai), Tokyo. Retrieved October 10, 2021, from https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/titeki2/tyousakai/kousou/2020/dai2/siryou1.pdf
Nemoto, Ryo (2021, March 25). China sanctions inspire push for Japan’s own Magnitsky Act. Retrieved September 7, 2021, from Nikkei Asia website: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/China-sanctions-inspire-push-for-Japan-s-own-Magnitsky-Act
NHK “Heisei netto shi (kari)” shuzai han (2021). Heisei netto shi—Eien no bēta ban. Tōkyō: Gentōsha.
Nihon Iryō Kenkyū Kaihatsu Kikō Kōshiki Channeru (2020, December). IT/AI/ML Embedding: Gekidō suru IT. Presented at the AMED shinpo 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbjQC4MB2qE
Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha (2020, November 25). LINE, Ajia sai-chōsen kuni goto ni sābisu kaihatsu. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from Nihon Keizai Shinbun denshiban website: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO66632560V21C20A1FFE000/
Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha (2021a, March 3). Ajia senryaku “rōkaru rosen”, ZHD, genchi de baishū ni iyoku. Nihon Keizai Shinbun, morning edition, p. 13.
Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha (2021b, March 17). LINE jōhō hogo fubi, Chūgoku kanren kaisha de kan’etsu ka, shimei ya ID. Nihon Keizai Shinbun, evening edition, p. 1.
Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha (2021c, March 23). Kenkō jōhō, Kankoku de hokan, LINE, hoken-shō gazō nado. Nihon Keizai Shinbun, evening edition, p. 3.
Nomura Sōgō Kenkyūjo (2020). IT rōdomappu 2020 nen ban: Jōhō tsūshin gijutsu wa 5 nengo kō kawaru! Tokyo: Tōyō Keizai Shinpōsha.
Ohya Takehiro (2019). Kojin shin’yō sukoa no shakaiteki igi. Jōhō tsūshin seisaku kenkyū, 2(2), 15–26.
Ōnishi Takahiro (2019, May 28). Son Masayoshi-shi “Jisatsu shiyō ka to omou gurai nayanda. Sabetsu wa tsurai.” Retrieved September 22, 2021, from Nikkei Bujinesu denshiban website: https://business.nikkei.com/atcl/seminar/19/00059/052400004/
Ōta Tomomi (2019, August 6). “IoT sekyūriti to jōhō ginkō ga ‘intānetto zentei shakai’ no kiban” Keiō-dai Sunahara Hideki kyōju. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from Businessnetwork.jp website: https://businessnetwork.jp/Detail/tabid/65/artid/6884/Default.aspx
Sahashi Ryō (2021). Beichū tairitsu. Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Shinsha.
Sakimura Nat (2018, December 27). “Jōhō ginkō” no kigen wa? Retrieved September 14, 2021, from @_Nat Zone: Identity, Privacy, and Music website: https://www.sakimura.org/2018/12/4331/
Sakimura, Nat (2020, December 11). “Trusted Personal Data Management Service (TPDMS)” Certification Program. Retrieved December 29, 2021, from https://www.tpdms.jp/file/20201211presentation.pdf
Sasaki Takamasa, Haruyama Yō, & Shida Daisuke (2020). MyData ekonomī: Pāsonaraizu to jōhō ginkō. Tōkyō: Nikkei BP.
Shahidan, Noor Hidayah, Latiff, Ahmad Shaharudin Abdul, & Wahab, Sazali Abdul (2021). Moving Towards Society 5.0: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis. In Aurona Gerber & Knut Hinkelmann (Eds.), Society 5.0: First International Conference, Society 5.0 2021, Virtual Event, June 22–24, 2021, Revised Selected Papers (pp. 93–104). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86761-4_8
Shibasaki, Ryōsuke, Hori, Satoru, Kawamura, Shunji, & Tani, Shigeyuki (2020). Integrating Urban Data with Urban Services. In Hitachi-UTokyo Laboratory (Ed.), Society 5.0: A People-centric Super-smart Society (pp. 67–83). Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2989-4
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai (2021). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples (Third edition). London: Zed.
Sołtysik-Piorunkiewicz, Anna, & Zdonek, Iwona (2021). How Society 5.0 and Industry 4.0 Ideas Shape the Open Data Performance Expectancy. Sustainability, 13(2), 917. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020917
Steinberg, Marc (2019). The Platform Economy: How Japan Transformed the Consumer Internet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Steinberg, Marc (2020). LINE as Super App: Platformization in East Asia. Social Media + Society, 6(2), 205630512093328. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120933285
Takahashi Fumiya (2021, April 9). “Kyō wa Amerika shutchō, Ashita wa Pekin” no kaisha wa tsubureru. Amari Akira giin ga egaku “Afutā LINE mondai” no chūgoku bijinesu. Retrieved September 11, 2021, from Huff Post Nihon edishon website: https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/story_jp_6067c654c5b66c4ab6b2b693
Tanaka Michiaki (2020). 2025 nen no dejitaru shihon shugi: “dēta no jidai” kara “puraibashī no jidai” e. Tōkyō: NHK Shuppan.
Tanner, Murray Scot (2017, July 20). Beijing’s New National Intelligence Law: From Defense to Offense. Retrieved September 15, 2021, from Lawfare website: https://www.lawfareblog.com/beijings-new-national-intelligence-law-defense-offense
TEDx (2012, June). Information bank—[English]: Ryosuke Shibasaki at TEDxTokyo. Presented at the TEDx Talks. Retrieved September 14, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbjQC4MB2qE
Van Overstraeten, Tanguy (2020). Japan and Data Protection: A Brief Introduction. Global Privacy Law Review, 1(3), 138–142.
Wintour, Patrick (2021, March 22). US and Canada follow EU and UK in sanctioning Chinese officials over Xinjiang. The Guardian. Retrieved December 30, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/22/china-responds-to-eu-uk-sanctions-over-uighurs-human-rights
Yamashita Satoshi (2021). “O-toku na pointo” to kojin jōhō purofairingu. Tōkei Sūri Kenkyūjo nyūsu, (153), 14.
York, Jillian C. (2021). Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech under Surveillance Capitalism. London: Verso.
Zuboff, Shoshana (2018). Das Zeitalter des Überwachungskapitalismus (Bernhard Schmid, Trans.). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication.
- Texts will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work, provided they include an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship, its initial publication in this journal and the terms of the license.
