The Japanese government has abolished the restrictions on floppy disks, and the next step is to review faxes and other systems



The Digital Agency 's review of 'analog regulations' in Japanese government ministries and agencies has been completed as scheduled, with the aim of abolishing them by June 2024. This has been widely reported overseas as Japanese government ministries and agencies are now freed from the constraints of using floppy disks as recording media.

Japan declares victory in effort to end government use of floppy disks | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-declares-victory-effort-end-government-use-floppy-disks-2024-07-03/

Japan's government says goodbye to floppy disks
https://www.engadget.com/japans-government-says-goodbye-to-floppy-disks-214449682.html

Japan wins 2-year “war on floppy disks,” kills regulations requiring old tech | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/japans-government-finally-exits-90s-ends-floppy-disk-use/

Japan finally says goodbye to floppy disks, ends government use of legacy tech - Neowin
https://www.neowin.net/news/japan-finally-says-goodbye-to-floppy-disks-ends-government-use-of-legacy-tech/

Taro Kono , who became Minister of Digital Affairs on August 10, 2022, stated at a press conference on August 30 that he intends to abolish the clause that specifies that recording media submitted to the government must be outdated media such as floppy disks in order to promote digital reform.

Minister Kono's press conference (August 30, 2022) - YouTube


Posts on social media aimed at overseas users have used expressions such as 'The Digital Minister has declared war on floppy disks.'



According to the document '(PDF file) Regarding the review of regulations specifying recording media such as floppy disks ' published by the Digital Agency on December 7, 2022, the number of clauses in laws and regulations specifying recording media was 2,088, including 'application/issuance, etc. (administrative procedures)', 'application/issuance, etc. (private procedures)', 'document creation/preservation, etc. (mainly administrative agencies, etc.)', 'document creation/preservation, etc. (mainly private businesses, etc.)', and 'others (those that only include the wording of recording media, etc.)'. In addition, there were 1,355 provisions for online procedures and cloud use that already existed, 697 provisions for which regulations were to be established, and 30 cases that did not require review.



The outline of the review is to 'establish regulations regarding online procedures and cloud usage, etc.' as well as to 'delete the provisions specifying floppy disks that remain in individual Cabinet Orders and Ministerial Ordinances.'



In fact, 1,034 cases were subject to review, and according to the '

Analog Regulation Review Status Dashboard ,' 991 reviews were completed by March 31, 2024.



As

of Minister Kono's press conference on June 14, 2024 , only one matter remained, 'related to Article 27 of the Ministry of the Environment's Act on Recycling of End-of-Life Vehicles, etc.,' and it was learned that this matter was also completed on June 28.

Press Conference by Minister Kono (July 2, 2024) | Digital Agency
https://www.digital.go.jp/speech/minister-240702-01

Minister Kono reportedly issued a statement to news agencies following the post made two years ago, saying that 'we have won the floppy disk war,' and it appears that this has been widely covered overseas.

Reuters described it as 'a long-awaited milestone in efforts to overhaul the bureaucracy.'

In addition, the news site Engadget points out that 'Japan is not the only country that relied on floppy disks,' citing the example of the U.S. military using 8-inch floppy disks in its 'Strategic Automated Command and Control System' for nuclear operations.

Floppy disks are still used to operate intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers - GIGAZINE


By Frédéric BISSON

The news site Ars Technica asks in a subheading, 'But what about faxes?' Faxes are soon to be abolished in principle in the educational field, and Minister Kono indicated his intention to move forward with the abolition of faxes in the legislature as well during a question-and-answer session at a press conference on July 2, 2024.

◆ Forum is currently open
A forum related to this article has been set up on the official GIGAZINE Discord server . Anyone can post freely, so please feel free to comment! If you do not have a Discord account, please refer to the account creation procedure article to create an account!

• Discord | 'Are you still using floppy disks and fax machines? What are you using them for?' | GIGAZINE
https://discord.com/channels/1037961069903216680/1258347654253903943

Related Posts:

in Note,   Video, Posted by logc_nt