June 25, 2025

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The proposed amendment to the Act of the Protection of Personal Information, which is currently under Diet deliberation, would allow “sensitive personal information” to be provided to third parties in its “raw” form, without anonymization or the individual’s consent, for the purposes of AI development or statistical analysis.

This raises serious privacy concerns, infringing upon a fundamental human right. It also carries risks of data leaks and unauthorized use.

“Sensitive personal information” refers to details such as names, addresses, medical history, political beliefs and religious views, criminal history, history of being a victim of crime, ethnicity, and social status. Medical history includes information on mental disorders, genetic diseases, sexually transmitted infections, dementia, gene characteristics, and physical disabilities. These details require special care to ensure that individuals are not disadvantaged by discrimination or prejudice.

In today’s digital society, computers can analyze and cross-reference vast amounts of data, and this already carries the risk of individuals being inferred or identified (i.e., “profiled”) even from statistical information that is not personally identifiable.

To safeguard against these risks, the government has explained that the proposed amendment prohibits improper use and establishes guidelines. However, the measures the government announced are lax and weak compared to those taken in the EU and the United States.

At the House of Councillors Special Committee on Digital and AI on June 17, Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Daimon Mikishi cited a class-action lawsuit currently underway in a U.S. federal court against the IT company Workday, Inc., alleging that the company’s AI-driven applicant screening software systematically discriminates against job seekers based on race, physical or mental disabilities, and age. Daimon said that the plaintiffs claim that they received automatic rejections within minutes of applying. Noting that the EU strictly regulates profiling that leads to discrimination under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), he argued that legal regulations are essential to prevent AI-related human rights violations.

Business circles, including the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Information Technology Federation of Japan (ITrenmei), are pushing for the amendment to the private information protection law in order to facilitate AI development. It is unacceptable for a law revision that endangers individual privacy to be made simply to comply with the demands from the business community.