Online Privacy Invasion in Japan: Legal Remedies for Unauthorized Disclosure

Japan's right to privacy derives from Constitutional Art. 13 (right to pursue happiness), established in the "Utage no Ato" case (Tokyo District Court 1964): covers private facts that reasonable persons would not want disclosed and are not publicly known. Online violations include doxxing (address/phone disclosure), linking real identity to anonymous accounts, lifestyle exposure, and revenge porn (Revenge Porn Prevention Act: 3 years imprisonment/¥500,000 fine). Remedies: deletion requests to site operators, transmission prevention measures (Provider Liability Act Art. 3(2)), court injunction, search result delisting (Supreme Court 2017.1.31: only when privacy interest clearly outweighs), sender disclosure (Art. 5), and tort damages (¥100K-¥1M+). Human Rights Hotline: 0570-003-110.