Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how ordinary Japanese people perceive and understand data sensitivity and sensitive data. Although the concept of sensitive data is described in an article of Japan’s revised personal data act, following the EU Data Protection Directive and the new data protection rule, there has been little research on whether this legally defined concept conforms to the general public’s perception of sensitive data in Japan and, if not, what differences exist between them. Using empirical data acquired through a questionnaire survey and appropriate statistical methods, we sought to clarify empirically the features of data sensitivity as perceived by ordinary Japanese people. This exploratory research revealed that ordinary Japanese tended to feel relatively low sensitivity to personal data related to their civic activities, which are typically mentioned in the official explanation of sensitive data, but they tended to feel a higher degree of sensitivity regarding financial-related personal data, which were not ordinarily considered sensitive data.

Highlights

  • The IT Strategic Headquarters of the Japanese government1 formulated a new IT strategy entitled “Declaration to be the World’s Most Advanced IT Nation” in June 2013

  • The increased need for the development of laws related to use of personal information for business resulted in a revision to Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI; Act No 57 of 2003), which was passed by the congress in September 2015

  • Ordinary people tended not to feel highly sensitive about personal data relating to their civic life, or data shadow that might indicate civic activities, and this tendency was seen commonly in both men and women

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Summary

Introduction

The IT Strategic Headquarters of the Japanese government formulated a new IT strategy entitled “Declaration to be the World’s Most Advanced IT Nation” in June 2013 (revised in June 2014, June 2015 and May 2016). Ordinary Japanese tended to regard the ID number factor, consisting of data on basic pension/social security number, health insurance number, taxpayer number, other government ID number, citizen/resident identification number, driving licence number, credit card number, bank account number, and employee/student number, as highly sensitive data (MIDn = 2.460). Most of such ID numbers are not inherently ‘financial’ data but, in Japan, as in other countries, they are sometimes abused to commit fraud. For the data shadow factor, the age group who felt the lowest sensitivity was the over 60s; there was a significant difference between this group and all other age groups

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