일본의 개인정보 법제 및 개인정보 침해사건에서의 민사책임- 우리 법제 및 판례와의 비교를 포함하여

In our society, there have been a great deal of data-related disputes. As a result, various data-related laws have been readjusted with the Personal Data Protection Act as a center and many cases have been piled up. A neighbor country Japan also drastically revised the Personal Data Protection Act in 2015 and cases related to the data have been piling up. Especially recently, a Supreme Court ruling on civil liability has appeared. Unlike Korea, in Japan, separate acts govern the private and public sectors, and the Personal Data Protection Act, which covers the private sector, is focusing on administrative regulations. The revision in 2015 sought to satisfy both directions of personal data protection and utilization. However, Japan's Personal Data Protection Act does not have a provision for civil liability and is generally not recognized as the basis for civil liability. Therefore, in cases such as leakage of personal data or unauthorized disclosure, it constitutes violation of privacy rights and is held responsible for tort. In the resolution of the actual case, it is not difficult to acknowledge responsibility for illegal activities due to the violation of privacy in the leakage of personal information or unauthorized disclosure, though in some cases illegality is carved through the weighing of interest. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the attitude of future Japanese decisions, as the recent ruling by Japan's Supreme Court suggests the possibility of recognizing the occurrence of mental damage even if there is no specific claim of mental distress.