Japan’s House of Councillors on Friday approved an amendment to the Personal
Information Protection Act permitting companies to use sensitive personal data
for AI development and statistical analysis without individual consent, provided
the data cannot be used to identify specific persons. Information collected from
social media and other platforms may include race, medical records and criminal
histories. The revised law introduces profit-based fines for data misuse: firms
that improperly obtain or use personal information on more than 1,000 people
face penalties equal to the profits derived from that information. The amendment
aims to accelerate domestic AI development; related legislation also allows the
government to supply data to private firms and research institutions for AI and
autonomous-driving development. Business groups have increasingly pushed for
looser data-protection rules.
