Police in Japan likely to gain authority to hack phones to check messaging apps

The Cabinet approved a bill that would give police expanded "remote analysis" powers to access and examine messaging-app data on electronic devices without physically possessing them. The change targets tokuryu criminal networks, which recruit one-off participants through encrypted messaging and operate without in-person meetings, making traditional surveillance and tapped lines ineffective. Authorities argue remote access will let investigators uncover ringleaders, member identities and addresses, planned methods (including weapons), and potential victims, enabling prevention of crimes before they occur.

The proposal includes procedural safeguards modeled on wiretap rules: investigators must obtain a judge-issued warrant based on factors such as urgency and whether the information can be obtained by other means; warrants would be limited to sufficiently serious crimes like robbery and fraud. Only specially trained investigators designated by the National Police Agency commissioner general would carry out the access, and data judged irrelevant to criminal activity would not be retained. The bill was submitted to the current Diet session after Cabinet approval on October 16 and is expected to clear parliament and take effect within about six months.