The Distinction between "Privacy" and "Personal Information" - Issues of Personal Information Protection Act in Japan

It seems that the relation of the concept of privacy and the concept of the personal information are misunderstood. The privacy comes from the personality, and it is a normative concept. On the other hand, personal information is a fact about each individual. In Japan, Privacy protection is often confused with personal data protection when talking about the Internet. But the leakage of personal information is not privacy infringement per se. Because of this confusion, now in Japan, when collecting and using all kind of information, it is demanded to obtain the individual's consent for the use and processing of personal data. There may be the risk that regulating excessively with all information concerning the person without using the term of privacy at all. Such an excessive regulation may hinder the corporate and public activities. It should then be distinguished ‘the use of personal information which does not infringe someone’s privacy’ from ‘the use of the information relating to the privacy’. And only ‘privacy-related information’ should be the subject matter of the Personal Information Protection Act of Japan from the standpoint of a smooth circulation of information. Of course, basically the individual’s consent should be required, but the high chance of being sued for every activity concerning the processing of information by excessive regulation is an issue that should be solved soon. The Relation between Privacy and the Protection of Personal Information The raise of the Internet prompted the existence of many legal issues that might not be expected beforehand. At first, the Internet was not subject to any existing regulation back then. But now it is recognized as an important issue because it cannot be separated from the real world. When user navigates the Internet, the personal information of the user is collected directly or indirectly by the information collector. Such information may include personal sensitive information, which is part of someone’s Copyright © 2009, Yeyoung CHANG, Assistant Professor of Tokyo City University. All rights reserved. privacy. With a technical problem of the network, the negligence of the information manager, and a massive personal information leakage due to hacking attacks, the issue of privacy infringement became more and more serious. Because of these reasons, the protection system for personal information is justified. However, it seems that the relation of the concept of the privacy and the concept of the personal information are misunderstood. If we do not clarify this misconception, we cannot handle privacy issues appropriately in the information society. The privacy comes from the personality, and it is a normative concept. On the other hand, personal information is a fact about each individual. In other words, personal information are the building blocks of the concept of privacy, and when the information about a person is identified by the norms and context, the ‘personal information’ becomes ‘privacy’. Because these two concepts are not distinguished in the current Personal Information Protection Act in Japan, there are certain positions, which assume that all personal information concerns privacy. Because the issue of privacy protection in the information society is intimately close to the advancement of the Internet industry, the use of personal information should not be impeded if such use does not constitute a privacy infringement. In this work, I will outline the Personal Information Protection Act of Japan and point out the controversial issues of overreaction to the Act. The Framework of the Personal Information Protection Act of Japan The debate on privacy protection in Japan began with the National Government in 1974. Shortly after the Administrative Management Committee started a study, in 1976, the ‘Management Regulation for the Computer Processing Data Protection’ was passed.