The lower house of Japan’s Diet has passed legislation intended to protect individual privacy despite protests the law will restrict freedom of speech, according to wire service reports.
This law prohibits companies from sharing personal information without an individual’s prior approval and limits the use of the information to specific purposes.
It also requires companies to notify individuals when they acquire information about them. Government agencies already have the same requirements.
The legislation must still go to the upper house, which was expected to pass it during the current session of Parliament that runs through mid-June.
Critics counter that this law paves the way for people to flood search engine and Internet bulletin board systems with requests to delete information which could result in the shuttering of such services.
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