Nipponica

The Japanese government is considering allowing the peacetime monitoring of private metadata in a way that does not directly identify individuals, in a bid to bolster its pre-emptive cyberattack defenses, government sources said Sunday.

Data such as messages themselves, in principle, will not be subject to monitoring, amid concerns that the plans to strengthen surveillance against potential cyberattacks could infringe on privacy, the sources said.

I personally am opposed to any kind of 'limited' monitoring as eventually the limits of this monitoring will expand. And with the increasing digitalization of the country and the lack of expertise in these field in high government, I can foresee outcomes that are less than stellar for both the government and residents of Japan.