Photo/Illutration Plaintiffs and their lawyers hold a news conference on Feb. 26 in Kobe’s Chuo Ward to discuss their lawsuit against the Kobe municipal government for the provision of personal information. (Saori Kuroda)

KOBE–-Six citizens have sued the city of Kobe for providing personal information of its residents to the Self-Defense Forces without their consent, which they claim violates privacy rights and personal information protection.

In a lawsuit filed at the Kobe District Court on Feb. 26, the plaintiffs, in their 50s to 70s, accused Mayor Kizo Hisamoto of sharing the personal data with the armed forces for recruitment purposes.

In January last year, the municipal government provided the SDF with a CD-R disc containing the names, addresses, dates of birth and genders of 14,116 citizens aged 22, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs argue that the provision of the data, made at the SDF’s request, violates Article 13 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy, as well as the city's personal information protection ordinance.

They are seeking payment of approximately 130,000 yen ($863) in personnel costs incurred for the provision of the information, arguing the misused public funds should be returned to citizens.

The Self-Defense Forces Law and related legislation state that local governments “shall perform a part of the administrative work” related to the recruitment of SDF personnel and the defense minister "may request necessary information from local governments."

According to these provisions, Kobe officials signed a data-sharing agreement with the SDF's regional recruitment office in 2020, under which they provide personal information of citizens to the SDF in an electronic format.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs argue that the Self-Defense Forces Law and related legislation do not explicitly authorize the provision of personal information by local governments.

They warn that if personal information can be provided based on ambiguous regulations, there is a risk that sensitive information such as health status, occupation and family composition could also be disclosed without notice.

Kobe officials told The Asahi Shimbun that they couldn’t comment as they hadn’t received the lawsuit.

EXCLUSION OPTION

A survey by the plaintiffs found that 17 of the country’s 20 major cities provide personal information of their residents to the SDF for recruitment purposes. Meanwhile, the remaining three only allow the SDF access to their basic resident register networks.

However, many of the 17 cities share the data in paper format rather than in an electronic format, or only provide the address and name, or have an "exclusion option" that allows individuals to refuse to release their personal information.

Only Kobe, Kawasaki and Yokohama don’t have such an exclusion option currently in place, with Yokohama planning to introduce one in April.

A Yokohama official said the decision was made "in consideration of the growing awareness of personal information protection."

"Only Kobe provides all four pieces of information--name, address, date of birth and gender--in an electronic format, with no exclusion option in place,” according to the plaintiffs. “This highlights a lack of consideration for personal information protection."

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