Sharp’s new AQUOS R11 smartphone includes a camera feature that automatically masks sensitive fields on Japan’s My Number Card when the card is photographed, a privacy step aimed at the moments when people capture the national ID for identity verification. The feature, part of a broader AI privacy-masking capability in the phone’s camera, detects and obscures specified fields at the time of capture rather than leaving the user to edit the image afterward.
The masking targets data that identity checks do not need. When a My Number Card is photographed, the camera can automatically conceal fields such as gender and organ-donor consent, information printed on the card but irrelevant to confirming a person’s name and number for most verification purposes. By removing those fields at capture, the feature reduces the chance that a photo submitted for identity verification, or shared more casually, carries more personal data than the recipient requires.
The card-specific masking is one application of a wider Privacy Safe function. The same AI feature can detect and mask other sensitive text, such as signs and billboards, when a user photographs a scene, framed by Sharp as a way to protect privacy when sharing images. Applied to the My Number Card, that general capability becomes an identity-verification privacy control, given how often the card is photographed for online and in-person checks in Japan.
The feature arrives as the My Number Card becomes more central to digital identity in Japan. The card has been added to Apple Wallet and is increasingly used for verification, and Japan has opened the card’s chip to private-sector apps for identity and age checks. As more services ask people to present or photograph the card, on-device controls that limit what a card image exposes become part of the verification story.
The AQUOS R11, which Sharp plans to release in July, carries the My Number Card masking as part of its camera’s privacy features.
Sources: Sharp
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
