The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government plans to toughen penalties for illegal use and distribution of individuals' personal information, and make it possible to punish individual workers for such offenses, according to government sources.
At present, only heads of businesses and governmental administrative bodies can be punished in such cases.
The move would be intended to complement a proposed ID-number system seen as having wide-ranging applications in areas including provision of social security services and tax collection.
The stiffer penalties will be incorporated into an outline of the envisaged ID-number system expected to be compiled by the end of this month.
The ID-number system would deal with a large volume of private information, including details about individuals' income and medical history, and would likely lead to more frequent exchange of sensitive personal data between government offices and private-sector institutions.
The government believes tougher penalties for illegal use of such data, and scope for broader enforcement, should therefore be introduced.
At present, the Personal Information Protection Law only allows punishment of business operators--not individual employees--in cases where personal data is leaked from a private corporation, or used for unlawful purposes.
State ministers can warn offenders or order them to take corrective measures, and subject them to further punishment if they fail to do so.
A company that violates the current law can be fined up to 300,000 yen, and company heads can be given prison terms of up to six months.
If the offender is an official of a governmental body, he or she faces up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 1 million yen.
The government plans to establish an independent entity to supervise governmental bodies and private companies that handle information under the ID-number system. The new entity would be authorized to make so-called raid inspections of suspected offenders.
(Apr. 25, 2011)
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