August 2020

JAPAN CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION COMMITTEE

Policy Proposals for
Realizing a True Digital Society in the Post-Coronavirus Era～ Building a Better Japan～
Introduction
The spread of new coronavirus infections continues to pose a significant threat to the world. On
the other hand, the use of digital technology has made great strides. Many companies haveencouraged remote work and are using video conferencing—the mindset of office workers who once
thought that going to the office itself was their vocation, has been transformed. In addition,telemedicine, which has been a longstanding point of controversy in Japan, has started to spread
more widely; telemedicine in the form of remote initial consultation has come to be accepted, albeit
as a temporary measure.
Those examples suggest that in the post-coronavirus era, online activities will take root in many
fields and that the realization of Society 5.0 will come one step closer. However, social systems
refined in the real society have been well-established to some extent, and thus we take the existingprocesses for granted. Looking at the prevalence of remote working, we can find some interesting
examples as follows:
・Installing clock-in/out applications for time management in employees’ PCs for remote working,and holding morning/evening meetings in work-from-home environments
・Sustaining weekly department meetings at the fixed time through videoconferencing
・Sustaining the route of report circulation (starting from assistant manager ⇒ manager ⇒ deputydirector), and preparing official digital seals
From those cases, we can see that the processes of real society still exist. We need to be fully
aware that the transition from a real society to a digital one should not be superficial, but it should
be regarded as a paradigm shift. The examples from remote work environments outlined above
indicate that society has failed to become a digital society in a true sense and remains a pseudodigital society.

1A common pitfall we face in the quest for DX (Digital Transformation) is simply trying to digitalize
individual processes that exist in real society at the current time. It is certainly easy just to focus on
individual processes, but for a true DX, we must review the whole process itself. We need to go backand rethink what we want to do and what our goal is. Rather than replacing existing processes, weneed to review the entire procedure and eliminate what is unnecessary or integrate existingprocesses with new ones.
Taking the COVID-19 pandemic as a momentum, the Japan Cybersecurity Innovation Committee(JCIC) has made the following proposals for the creation of a foundation enabling our country totransition to a true digital society.
(*In this article, “DX” is positioned as one of the means for digitalization. “Go online” refers to connecting to theInternet.)

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Policy Proposals for Realizing a True Digital Society in the Post-Coronavirus Era
Proposal 1: Japan should improve an environment that allows all citizens to accessthe Internet
Since the beginning of this century, the Japanese government has been trying to popularize
Internet infrastructure by setting various goals, including increasing the number of broadband
subscribers. In the future, it will be necessary to promote the further penetration of infrastructure andto improve an environment in which all citizens, rather than as a unit of businesses, organizations orhouseholds, have online access as a means of exercising their fundamental human rights,.
An IP address in the digital world is like a physical address in the real world. In order to present
a solution to the question of what to do with citizens who do not have an address (IP address), a
system that supports or works as a substitute for access in the local community, both economicallyand technically, should be built. To achieve this, it is necessary to establish a multilayered support
system that draws on the power of private companies, NPOs, and civic organizations as well as thegovernment and public institutions.

Proposal 2: Japan should establish a scheme for personal authentication in the digitalsociety
In Japanese society today, there are different identity authentication tools for different situations
such as a certificate of residence, a bank account cash card, a personal seal, an insurance card,and so on. Rather than using these tools as-is in the digital world, two or three types of authentication
schemes should be defined and made available to institutions across the country. Options would beindividual number cards and biometric authentication.

Proposal 3: Japan should allocate sufficient human resources and budget to manage
the operation of the entire digital social system
In addition to the communication system and personal identification system that support theabove two proposals, entities that operate social infrastructure such as administrative services andfinancial services have a responsibility to maintain stable operation. To fulfill this responsibility, thegovernment and such entities above must secure sufficient human resources and budget, including
capacity for handling of unforeseen situations.

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Proposal 4: Japan should ensure the right of all citizens to user education
There are some rules that we, as users, must follow, such as keeping personal devices including
smartphones as social system components up to date and strictly controlling cards and biometric
information, which are the keys to authentication. It is the responsibility of the government and otherrelated organizations to ensure that people understand the rules and act accordingly. It is necessary
to establish a scheme in which all citizens can enjoy the opportunities of user education which isprovided on a repeated basis.

Proposal 5: Japan should avoid the pitfalls of pseudo-digital society
Renewal of real social systems, to which we are fully accustomed, often ends up with mere digitalmigration of individual processes rather than a paradigm shift of the whole system. However, thedesired results cannot be achieved merely by digitalizing and piling up each process. Whendesigning a system, it is necessary to review the entire process with a clear purpose for the systemand have a big concept that includes operation. When designing the system, it is advisable to havea national discussion with the participation of stakeholders from various fields.

4Advantages and Considerations of Going Online in Various Fields
In the following sections, we will discuss the advantages of going online, the effects of identity
authentication schemes, and what to keep in mind in DX in some areas. Not everything in each field
can be settled 100% on a digital-online basis, but rather it must be used in conjunction with processes
in the real world. Therefore, we will reconsider the process itself and suggest how to separate digitalprocesses from real world processes.

(1) Medical field
Telemedicine, mentioned as an example at the beginning, is a temporary measure at the moment.
Still, we welcome the fact that discussions are beginning for it to take place on a permanent basis.
Let us review the process using the example of internal medicine practice. Among the main
objectives of internal medicine practice are the following:・To estimate the patient's condition;
・To identify the cause of illness and take remedial measures;
・To explain points to keep in mind to the patient;・To prescribe medication, etc.;
・To keep records and contact the relevant agencies as necessary for further treatment.
The cases where going online is likely to be more effective are:・Optimization of the frequency of follow-up care for chronic diseases;
・Elimination of the need for patient visits simply for receiving medication;
・Elimination of the need for patients to carry communication documents to other medical institutions
and insurance companies.
Patient identification (identity authentication) will not only streamline administrative procedures,
but also make it easier to perform diagnoses based on past symptoms. Concerning remote initialconsultations, the system would also contribute to the management of illnesses that are easy todiagnose and to decisions regarding which specialist to consult.
(2) Judicial field
We are aware that in some civil cases, the representatives of the plaintiffs and defendants are
conducting their negotiation sessions through videoconferencing. In terms of criminal cases, with5

regard to cases such as relatively minor traffic violations, penalties can be decided based on thesituation. Moreover, as long as there are no significant issues, it is not difficult to go online. Even ina critical case that may become a trial with lay judges, the objectives of the trial could be considered
as follows:・To fully reveal the facts regarding the case;・To determine the truth about the defendant’s involvement;
・To establish correct sentence in light of the laws (if guilty);
・To compile the developmental record of the case.
If the four purposes above can be achieved, it could be envisaged that judicial professionals
alone could come to conclusions online. For example, the following cases could be assumed:
・Conducting pretrial proceedings online with only judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers anddefendant;
・In cases with fewer issues, such as where the defendant admits the charge, the defendant canchoose to be judged in a summary trial;・Concluding summary trials in a short period of time with the presence of judges, prosecutors,
defense lawyers and defendant;
・Conducting summary trials online as a basic format, and the sentence is reduced in comparison
with lay judge trials.
In cases where a defendant claims his/her innocence, a normal lay judge trial will be conductedin a real court. As stated above, it is advisable to introduce online judicial proceedings after reviewing
the entire judicial process.
(3) Educational field
Universities with online courses and learning as the primary teaching format have existed formore than a decade. Let us consider primary and secondary education, and in particular primaryschool education online. Although the role of primary schools in educating children is diverse andhas a wide range of purposes, these four points could be seen as the main purposes:
・To achieve academic progress;
・To cultivate imagination and creativity;

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・To maintain and enhance health;・To provide protection (depending on the home environment).
Among these purposes, it will be possible to go online for the purpose of academic progressunder the condition that the development of digital contents progresses and teachers become
accustomed to using them. The development of standardized contents (including textbooks as
supplementary reading material) would allow them to be utilized on a repetitive basis, reducing theburden on teachers to some extent. Pupils may also have more freedom to choose a course. For
example, a child who is equivalent to a second grade but good at arithmetic could take a third or
fourth-grade course. The best pupils would be able to even skip a grade. It would no longer be
restricted to starting school in April and graduating in March in terms of academic progress.
Elementary schools would transform into places of communication rather than places to learn,
and it would be expected that the role of teachers could be that of acting as regional coordinators orcounselors to guide children's growth.
(4) Civil rights field
We will first focus on online election/voting which some countries have already implemented.
Things should be done and purposes to be achieved at time of election could be summarized asfollows:
・To inform voters of the target posts, as well as the timing and conditions of an election;
・To disseminate the candidates’ information (background, political opinions, points of view, etc.) tovoters;
・To compile voters' opinions (in the form of a vote) and publicize the results.
With the above in mind, there would no longer be any need for various election-related activities,
including putting up posters, touring the electoral districts on campaign trucks, presenting jointcampaign speeches in public, mailing the polling station admission tickets, assignment of witnessesat polling stations, and preparing ballot boxes and papers, if online election/voting is realized. It would
also shorten the time it takes to get the results of the voting and reduce the chance of errors in thevote count. The public notification period may be much shorter than currently stipulated.
Most of the problems in this field seem to be connected to proper dissemination of candidate
information. One fear is that better-funded political groups will release more information to advancetheir campaigns, and the other fear is that candidates will be unfairly undermined by fake news. To7

prevent this, media integrity and literacy of citizens are a must, which is why user education isnecessary.
(5) Town management field
Even today, a significant number of cameras and sensors are installed around major roads andurban areas. Nevertheless, the government is adopting manual flow measurement, which seems to
be a significant waste of labor force. In normal situations, the purpose of managing the city'sresources (roads, bridges, various buildings, etc.) are as follows:・To detect whether a resource is capable of functioning;・To measure the extent of the resource’s usage;
・To judge whether or not measures such as repair are necessary and take measures as needed.
In the state of emergency such as a natural disaster, however, the following additional purposes
exist:
・To determine the necessity of evacuation and set up evacuation routes;
・To disseminate information, including the resources that should not be used.
It is possible to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, even in the case of disasters, byintegrating the digital data which both the government and private sectors hold. There are cameras
in vehicles as well as on the roadside, and the proliferation of connected cars will enable real-time
detection of resource conditions (road surface images and tire vibrations). Such scheme can beutilized not only for situations such as wide-area disasters, but also for crime prevention, which is aproblem closer to citizens’ daily lives.

Values of Our Proposals
We have discussed the advantages and other matters in the specific fields above with examples;at the end of this proposals, we present a supplementary discussion of the reasons why it isnecessary to implement Proposals 1 to 5.
Needless to say, Proposal 1 (online access rights for all) is a prerequisite for building a digitalsociety.
Regarding the identity authentication scheme outlined in Proposal 2, there is the issue of “people”
in digital society. The objects that form physical society are commonly defined as “people, goods and8capital”. When we think about reconstructing a digital society with these objects, in terms of “capital”,
cashless payment has already become widespread, particularly in the area of BtoB payment, while
the majority of BtoC payment is cashless on an amount basis, that is, in the digital space. In termsof “goods”, we find that the majority of things have their projected image in digital society, eventhough there are some inadequacies such as the fact that multiple entities have different ID systems
for the same goods. The remaining issue is that of “people”. In the medical field, for example, doctors
need to verify that a patient is actually the person in questions, and the patient needs to confirm
whether the person who diagnoses and prescribes him/her is really a doctor or a family doctor. This
is where the scheme for personal authentication is essential. This is also true in the judicial,educational, and civil rights fields.
The human resources and budget to manage the operation of the entire digital social system,
outlined in Proposal 3, is a proposal from the perspective that the system which supports thefoundation of digital society is now the social infrastructure itself. Just as the supply of energy, suchas electricity, is indispensable as social infrastructure in modern society, the networks, servers, anddevices connected to them are all parts of social infrastructure in digital society. As the power grid,
which has multiple routes to prevent loss of function resulting from a single wire break so that it canquickly switch in the event of a failure, the IT systems that support the operations in the areas
presented as examples must be robust and resilient against various kinds of risks. In order to copewith these risks, including natural disasters, accidents, failures, or cyber-attacks, it is necessary tobuild multi-layered systems and develop human-resource allocation that proactively and immediately
responds to the risks. All possible measures should be taken to avoid system failure during medical
treatments or operations.
As for Proposal 4 (user education), damages or losses may be caused even if the system itself
is robust, due to problems on the part of those who utilize the system (the users). Even thoughbanking ATM systems are strong, there are still cases where the victims of phone scam send money
to criminals via an ATM. This kind of crime has existed since the era of the barter economy and will
never be eliminated from our society. To address this, every citizen in the digital world must be awareof the threat. When lack of system resilience or user awareness causes damage in the digital world,
public opinion will move toward returning to the real world, especially if such problems are highlighted.
To prevent this, the damage caused by lack of awareness among users must be minimized.
Therefore, the user education mentioned in Proposal 4 for all citizens must be thoroughlyimplemented. Conversely, from citizens’ viewpoint, they have the right to receive user education soas to avoid damages and losses.

9Proposal 5 (avoid the pitfalls of pseudo-digital society) warns against the kind of superficial
digitalization mentioned at the beginning: maintaining the same practices as a routine, such as
conducting morning meetings online in the work-from-home environment and introducing
applications to clock in/out. A pseudo-digital society built on satisfaction with superficial digitalization
will deprive us of a valuable opportunity for a paradigm shift, and will also be spreading a false
perception among citizens that this is what digital society is all about. This could even lead to a more
prolonged stagnation of society as a whole.
We have discussed five proposals for promoting digital society in the post-coronavirus era, andtheir backgrounds, values and benefits. Here we would like to add one more point: promoting digitalsociety yields the effect of reducing social costs. Essentially, such effect should be utilized as thesource for the further promotion of digitalization. This should allow for a greater spiral of social
innovation.
The Basic Policies on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2020, recently approvedby the Cabinet, calls for “concentrated investment in and implementation of digitalization, which isthe driving force toward the construction of the ‘New Normal’, and improvement of the environment(Digital New Deal)”. Indeed, the five proposals form the foundation for the promotion of this “DigitalNew Deal”. In the Basic Policies, the text states that “Rather than simply introducing newtechnologies, the DX of society as a whole will serve as the driving force for the ‘New Normal’ by
also transforming the state of systems, policies and organizations, etc.”. and our proposals will also
be its major premise.
The objective of true digitalization is to improve people's quality of life and realize a better society,seeking not only to increase the size of the economy but also providing a public good, including thereduction of social disparity. We earnestly hope that Japan will recover from this national crisis assoon as possible and build a more robust society through true digitalization.

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