From The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
Police and the government collect a wide range of information about society as part of their daily operations. They have the ability to obtain, accumulate and use huge amounts of personal information about individual citizens.
But what about the problems with the way they gather and deal with such information? An effective system for constant examination of how authorities obtain and use private information is vital for the health of a democratic society.
About three years ago, information collected by Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department through its efforts against international terrorism was leaked.
A group of 17 Muslims whose personal information was leaked later filed a damages suit. Last week, the Tokyo District Court ordered the Tokyo metropolitan government to pay damages to the plaintiffs.
The court recognized police compiled files of information about the plaintiffs. The files included their nationalities, photos, information about their employers, places they visited and even texts that described them as if they were terrorists. The leak of the information caused serious suffering among the plaintiffs, such as losing their jobs and discrimination.
It is clear there were serious lapses in the management of the information, and the plaintiffs deserve to be amply compensated for their suffering.
Besides the private data, the leak also disclosed the disturbing way the Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Security Bureau gathered information.
The bureau targeted Muslims in its monitoring operation for the sole reason they are adherents of Islam. It followed people who have visited a mosque and put them under surveillance without good reason.
The district court, however, ruled that the information-gathering operation itself was legal, pointing out that it didn’t restrict or hamper their religious activities.
But most Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens. Police focused on the Muslims in the anti-terrorism intelligence operation simply because of their religious faith; there were no legitimate suspicions of their ties with terrorist groups or activities.
There is no denying that the way police singled them out and gathered their private information offends the sensibilities of ordinary citizens.
