June 3, 2005

Court Rules Against Japan ID Plan

A Japanese court has ruled that individuals may not be required to provide personal information for the National Residence Registry Network or "Juki Net." The court said that Article 13 of the Japanese constitution applied to all of the data sought by the government for the database, which includes names, addresses, birth dates and sexes, plus 11-digit resident codes. A second court ruled that the first four pieces of personal information, which people can access over the network, "do not need to be highly protected." Similar lawsuits have been filed in 13 different courts across Japan, challenging the collection of data for Juki Net.

Juki Net clouds privacy rights, Daily Yomiuri, June 2, 2005.