National Public Safety Commission

Rule Changes

Overseer of the bill's safeguards

Japan's Cabinet approved a bill on Oct. 16 that would let police reach into smartphones used by 'tokuryu' crime groups, whose leaders direct robberies and phone scams through encrypted apps like Signal and Telegram. With a judge's warrant, officers could copy data off a device over the internet to find victims' names and addresses before a crime happens. Only designated specialists could run the analysis, unrelated data must be deleted, and the phone's user must be told afterward.

Updated Oct 26