Japan’s Digital Technology Minister Taro Kono has vowed to repeal laws requiring the use of floppy disks and CDs when sending data to the government.
The news broke on Tuesday at the 5th Japan Digital Society Conference, where a strategy for the development of digital public services was outlined. Japan is about to follow the beaten path of issuing a national identity card, in this case called MyNumber.
But since such services by their nature involve uploading data to government agencies, the minister initiated a review of the laws governing the process of providing information.
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The audit uncovered more than 1,900 regulations that govern how data can be shared with the government – many of which require the use of floppy disks or CD-ROMs . Methods such as downloading information over the Internet are not described and are therefore not technically permitted.
Kono promised to rewrite these rules as soon as possible. He is not the first to attempt Japan’s digital transformation. In 2021, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga promised to reduce the use of stamps and fax machines. But Sugi’s tenure at the top was short, and his digital agenda didn’t materialize.
The US military still uses 8-inch floppy disks and IBM Series/1 computers from the 70s to manage its nuclear arsenal.
Source: The Register
