Right to Informational Self-determination in Japan:From Residential Basic Book Network System to Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in the Administrative Procedure

Due to advanced technology, the government has been empowered to collecting, processing and using variety of personal information about individuals. It exposes personal information to high risk of being used illegally and restraint on people’s control on self-information. By controlling personal information, the government is capable of managing and monitoring people improperly. At last, it might cause the collapse of the democracy. . In Japanese Law, the right to informational self-determination is protected not only by Article 709, Civil Law, but also by Article 13 of the Constitution of Japan. However, the Residential Basic Book Network System allocated Resident Registration Numbers to every individual and built a network system for managing people. Although it is criticized for eroding the right to informational self-determination, it is approved constitutional by the Supreme Court of Japan. Furthermore, the government enacted the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in the Administrative Procedure, allocated Personal Numbers to every individual, and allowed all government agency and partial private organization to use the number for exchange people’s personal information by a new network system. Although the Government considered and improved the shortcomings criticized by the Supreme Court’s judgment in the past, expect to reach the thoroughly protection of right to informational self-determination by a system with privacy impact assessment, independent oversight agency and higher punishment, the “Act of Numbers” still makes personal information being much more exchanged, matched and used. Without an important legislative purpose, the “Act of Numbers” exposes people’s personal information to unprecedented risks and enables the Government to implement singular control on people. As the result, the “Act of Numbers” doesn’t meet the protection of respect to individual and personal autonomy which praised by Article 13 of Constitution of Japan. In the mean time in Taiwan, although there is not a network system for all government agency to exchange personal information, the use of National ID Card Number is being used much more extensively than Japan’s personal number. Furthermore, it is still planed by the Government to force each citizen to hold national ID card with IC chip built-in, which integrated different administrative affairs. While a large numbers of personal information is recorded on the National ID Card Number, Taiwan still lack of the relevant legal norms on the exchanging of personal information among government agency. Drawing on legal experiences of Japanese law, the priority in Taiwan should be enacting detailed legal norms to rule the relevant government agencies conduct, enhance the transparency of how government agency collect, process and use personal information. To go a step further, I suggest it is necessary to set up independent supervisory authority, privacy impact assessments and a system for the citizen to inspect the flow and use of self-information. . In a democratic country, the government should not allocate numbers to the citizen, nor build a network system for the government agency to manage people without particular and major purpose. If the number is allocated, the affair using the number should be limited strictly and clearly. Furthermore, there should be independent supervisory authority, privacy impact assessments and a system for the citizen to inspect the flow and use of self-information. Finally, no matter how the system designed, the improper management and monitoring by the Government should always be considered while the pursuit of convenience, social welfare, and government services.