Independent Body Should Be Key to ‘Active Cyber Defense’; Yomiuri Interviews U.K. Investigatory Powers Commissioner

By Yujiro Okabe / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

7:00 JST, February 21, 2025

Brian Leveson, the U.K.’s investigatory powers commissioner, emphasized that a rigorous screening process by an independent body would be key to an envisaged “active cyber defense” system in Japan, during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in late January.

The system would enable government agencies to acquire and analyze communications data as part of efforts to prevent major cyberattacks. The government plans to establish a “supervisory committee on cyber communication information,” following the British example of an independent body assessing an application by a government-related organization to gather and analyze communications data on a case-by-case basis.

“I strongly support Japan’s intention to establish an independent authority to oversee the balance between national security and privacy,” Leveson said in Tokyo. While acknowledging the “secrecy of any means of communication” guaranteed by Japan’s Constitution, he stressed that “the world has changed in the last 25 years,” bringing new challenges such as cyberattacks.

The commissioner also said that, in the system set up in the United Kingdom, “privacy is protected to such [an] extent as it can be,” as prior consent as well as reviews by the independent body is institutionalized.

Leveson stressed that “[independence] is going to be critical for any organization that the Japanese government sets up,” and explained that he could only be fired from his position by a resolution of both Houses of Parliament.

Under the envisaged system, the government aims to properly carry out its tasks, while respecting the “secrecy of any means of communications.” Relevant bills were submitted to the ordinary Diet session earlier this month.

Brian Leveson

Born in 1949. Leveson is a retired British judge. After serving in a number of important positions, including as a lord justice of appeal, he has been the investigatory powers commissioner since 2019. In July 2011, he was appointed by then Prime Minister David Cameron to chair a public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, in response to a phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World — a now-defunct weekly U.K. tabloid. The findings were published in the Leveson Report in November 2012.