https://privacy.yahoo.co.jp/en/law_enforcement/
Yahoo Japan Corporation (hereinafter “Yahoo! JAPAN”) today released the Transparency Report (hereinafter the “Report”) outlining its policy and response status with respect to disclosure requests from law enforcement agencies.
In some cases, companies are requested by law enforcement agencies to disclose information about their users for purposes such as criminal investigation or saving lives. While responding to requests for disclosure from law enforcement agencies may be essential for criminal investigations and therefore can be considered a social responsibility, an easy response to a request for disclosure without a legal obligation to respond may lead to privacy concerns, and careful considerations are required.
In order to protect the privacy of our users, Yahoo! JAPAN has set the policy to respond, in principle, only to requests for disclosure based on warrants issued by judges or other procedures that directly obligate Yahoo! JAPAN to disclose information under customary laws and regulations. However, in some cases, when both the necessity and validity of disclosure are recognized, we may consider responding to a disclosure request. In this Report, we have compiled and published information on matters such as our basic approach to how Yahoo! JAPAN makes judgments about disclosure requests, the number of disclosure requests received from law enforcement agencies and the percentage of requests that resulted in the disclosure of some information. In the future, we plan to release the latest response status about once every six months.
In regard to Yahoo! JAPAN’s response policy and the Report, the “Expert Panel on Handling Requests for Information Disclosure From Investigative Agencies and Ensuring Their Transparency” was established at Z Holdings Corporation, the parent company of Yahoo! JAPAN, and opinions from experts in criminal law, privacy, and information security, etc. were received and disclosed. In order to maintain a high level of transparency as part of our social responsibility as a digital platform operator, we will continue to review and improve our practices while receiving opinions from outside parties such as expert panels.
Members of Expert Panel on Handling Requests for Information Disclosure From Investigative Agencies and Ensuring Their Transparency (without honorifics)
Chairperson
Masahide MAEDA, Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Members
Kiyoshi YASUTOMI, Professor Emeritus, Keio University, Lawyer (Advisor, Atsumi & Sakai)
Shiho KONNO, Lawyer, Shiho Konno Habataki Law Office
Kaori ISHII, Professor, Faculty of Global Informatics, Chuo University
Unless otherwise specified, English-language documents are prepared solely for the convenience of non-Japanese speakers. If there is any inconsistency between the English-language documents and the Japanese-language documents, the Japanese-language documents will prevail.