Helping trustworthy data flow freely: Keio event

“We are aiming to reach an agreement at the G7 summit to establish the Institutional Arrangement for Partnership on DFFT, the first global system related to data,” Nohara said. He said some of the projects that the partnership will work on are summarizing and listing participating countries’ regulations and systems related to data security and protection, plus supporting technologies that ensure data quality, fact-checking and the keeping of records on alterations. He stressed that such efforts are necessary to protect companies from losing potential opportunities and suffering increased costs of compliance.

One of the technologies that may be useful in this regard is the Originator Profile technology, which would help confirm the identities of content providers and website operators, thereby reducing risks like getting fake or altered information or falling victim to ad fraud.

Keio University distinguished professor Jun Murai, an advocate of Originator Profile technology, said in his keynote lecture that the use of the internet and related new technologies expanded at an unexpected speed in the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that advertising and media developed rapidly at the same time, creating some problems. “There is discussion in the world that something has to be done about this, and this is where OP can contribute,” Murai said.

He said the rapid advancement of JavaScript-based technology to provide various ad services has made the world of online advertising too complex, leaving room for abuse. “Sophisticated and complicated technologies tend to be abused. Simple technologies are easier to understand and have transparency, so they are harder to abuse.” Transparency is exactly what OP can provide, because it shows who the originator of a piece of content is.

Murai stressed the importance of the effort to internationally standardize this technology by implementing it on all major web browsers through the World Wide Web Consortium.

“I feel the expectation from the international community for Japan to create a good example of making good use of the internet in a real sense, and I believe that OP can help us meet the expectation,” he said.

The second half of the symposium was a panel discussion moderated by OP Technology Consortium Secretary-Genera Tatsuya Kurosaka. It featured three speakers: Atsuo Fujimura, a fellow at SmartNews Inc.; Masatoshi Kokubo, a researcher in the Graduate School of Law at Keio University; and Tatsuhiko Yamamoto, a professor at Keio University Law School.

Yamamoto, who specializes in constitutional and information law, shared his view that Originator Profile may be one of the more effective ways to solve the many problems caused by the online “attention economy.” He explained that the danger of the attention economy is that it prioritizes the kinds of information processed by “System 1” thinking, which is intuitive and instantaneous. “‘System 2’ thinking, which requires a lot of time and effort, is a must for the maintenance of democracy,” he said, noting the danger that excessive reliance on System 1 thinking may lead to short-sighted, simplistic speech and actions resulting in division and violence.

However, Fujimura, who has decades of experience in media and information technology, said it is not realistic to apply System 2 thinking to everything one sees on the internet ― you can’t think hard about everything ― and suggested that Originator Profile could contribute to the creation of a system that allows one to make a quick decision that is also a good choice, which is important from a business perspective.