New Japanese ID System Reports First Data Leak
from the and-it-won't-be-the-last dept
I had avoided posting all the various stories about the new national ID system in Japan that has people there yelling about potential violations. I figured I'd wait until the first violation cropped up. Well, that didn't take long. The system was launched on Monday, and today it was revealed that over 2,500 people were sent the private information of others in the system. "I apologize deeply for the trouble we have caused and ask for your understanding as we proceed with the new resident registry network," is the "apology" quote given for the blunder. Unfortunately, in a system that contains all sorts of private data, there isn't really any room for "understanding" when they screw up.
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Well that's all right, then...
It seems that essentially ANY crime, problem, tragedy or misdemeanour, no matter how enormous, can essentially be negated or greatly diminished through an apology.
From corporate incompetence that leads to losses of $billions through to individual incompetence that leads to massive loss of life (e.g. negligence in giving tainted blood transfusions; negligence that leads to aviation accidents etc.) an apology seems to make everything "OK" in the eyes of Japanese society.
Indeed, I've seen many articles over the years I've been living here to the effect that people have had court cases quashed or prison sentences commuted to a warning because they apologised so "well" and so "promptly".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]