Kojinjyoho no Hogo to Riyo (Protection and Utilization of Personal Information)

This book discusses various issues related to the protection and utilization of personal information. The book is organized as follows.
 
In Chapter 1, Section 1 discusses the characteristics of the personal information related to medical care, and discusses whether it is necessary to enact special legislation for medical care, and if so, what content should be stipulated. Section 2 of the chapter discusses the Next Generation Medical Infrastructure Act from the perspective of the protection and utilization of medical big data.
 
In Chapter 2, Section 1 brings out the problems that accompany the existing legislation on the protection of personal information from the viewpoint of consumer protection. In Chapter 2, Section 2 analyzes the data portability rights introduced in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). While there has been some previous research on the data portability rights, a number of points are yet to be discussed. Since I felt there was a need for deep research in this regard, this part is the culmination of comprehensive research. As there has been an argument that these rights make it difficult for new businesses to retain users, which hinders competition, this book analyzes these rights in view of the competition law. This chapter also examines the advantages and disadvantages of this legislation from the perspective of information access rights.
 
Chapter 3 discusses the protection and utilization of personal information related to education, including bullying, corporal punishment, and exams.
 
Chapter 4 examines the extent to which the legislative jurisdiction that allows the extraterritorial application of legislation to protect personal information is permitted based on the existing legislation as globalization progresses.
 
Chapter 5 examines the international trends and judicial precedent in Japan on the issue of “the right to be forgotten”, which has been actively discussed in recent times due to the possibility that past information can be semi-permanently searched with search services. This chapter clarifies the points of interpretation of this information and presents my personal opinions.
 
Chapter 6 discusses the full revision of the Statistics Act that took place in 2007 and the partial revision that took place in 2018, which facilitated the reform of the statistics legal system meant to effectively use statistics as an information infrastructure for society while protecting statistical information.
 
Chapter 7 analyzes the legalities of the bar association’s interest toward the receipt of reports on bar association inquiries by examining the Supreme Court decision on bar association inquiries under Article 23-2 of the Lawyers Act.
 
Chapter 8 examines the legal liability related to the leaking of personal information via the examination of judicial precedent related to the leakage of the Uji City Resident Register.
 
Chapter 9 discusses the problems with the procedure law with respect to whether the subjective statute of limitations for filing an action for the revocation of a partial disclosure decision related to the request to disclose self-information should be interpreted as the point in time when the notification for the partial non-disclosure decision was received, or the point in time when the partial disclosure was implemented. This issue is discussed through the examination of the Supreme Court decision.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2021)