  Court ruling accepting individuals' choice over resident registryAkahata editorial The Kanazawa and Nagoya district courts gave opposing rulings on residents' claims that their personal information be deleted from the Juki Net (basic residents' registration network) system. Privacy rights violated The Juki Net is a system that assigns every citizen an 11-digit code number to record their names, addresses, dates of birth, gender and other personal data using a national computer system. In a landmark ruling, the Kanazawa District Court said that the Juki Net system violates the rights of residents to protect personal information in contravention of Article 13 of the Constitution which guarantees the protection of privacy. The Juki Net system from the outset generated widespread concerns among the public as well as local governments regarding violation of privacy. By contrast, the Nagoya District Court supported the government view and rejected the residents' demand that their personal information be deleted. The court said, "The Juki Net system can't be regarded as a dangerous system likely to cause a violation of privacy." This judgment, however, can't affect the Kanazawa District Court's ruling that the system is unconstitutional. Recently, there have been many cases of the misuse of personal information, such as leakages of personal data kept by government ministries and agencies, inspections of personal information for purposes unrelated to official business, and the Defense Agency ordering local governments to supply data of residents eligible to be recruited by the Self Defense Forces. There is the real danger of privacy rights being violated. The Nagoya District Court's argument that the Basic Resident Registration Book is accessible to everyone and the requirement for its secrecy is not great is not plausible. In the case of a forced obscenity violation on a girl in Nagoya, the offender abused the open reference system, prompting the public management ministry to begin to review the present open reference system. The government introduced the Juki Net by touting it as a way to provide residents with quality services and improve efficiency in local administrative work. However, at the end of March this year, only 0.43 percent of all registered residents have applied to each local government for the Juki Net card. This means that this costly Juki Net system has not offered any convenience to residents. The Kanazawa District Court was correct in ruling that "it cannot be said that the Juki Net is needed even at the cost of resident's privacy." It is important that the Kanazawa District Court pointed out that each resident's personal information, such as name, address, date of birth, and sex will allow a free and overall access to various types of information on each individual, thus exposing individuals abusive use of the system. The Personal Information Protection Act allows a free access to personal information data by a third party other than government bodies on condition that it has "appropriate reasons." This will facilitate the flow of personal information. Handling personal information by governmental authority will just result in building a "society in which people are placed under surveillance." It is warned that the system will lead to establishing a national identification system. It is irresponsible that the government has introduced the Juki Net system without obtaining public consent. Defend civil rights The government must ensure personal rights and their privacy in accordance with the Constitution's Article 13: "All of the people shall be respected as individuals." It should take steps to guarantee residents' right to protect their personal information, which was made clear in judicial court. Some local governments have decided to incorporate the Juki Net, and others have made the Juki Net optional. There are 11 similar lawsuits that are being disputed. The government must seriously accept the court warning that the Juki Net will intervene in constitutional privacy rights. It must review the system so that local governments and individuals can have the right to choose. - Akahata, June 2, 2005 |