and introduction of direct penalties for the offenders. The bill was approved in the Diet in May of the same year.

## (2) Measures against billing frauds

In order to eliminate the anonymous nature of pre-paid mobile phones, which is the cause for the frequent use of these mobile phones for offenses such as billing frauds, the MIC repeatedly considered new measures to reinforce personal identification in June 2004, along with mobile phone carriers, etc. As a result, the respective mobile phone carriers and the MIC announced their new measures in November of the same year and started operation from April 2005.

Moreover, in order to eliminate the anonymous nature of prepaid and other mobile phones and prevent their misuse, the mobile phone carriers and PHS carriers were obligated to confirm personal identification of the subscriber upon conclusion/transfer of a subscription contract. In addition, the Law on Confirmation of Personal Identification of the Subscribers, etc. by Voice Mobile Communications Carriers and Prevention of Misuse of Voice Mobile Communications Services was proposed to the 162nd session of the Diet as a bill presented by a Diet member, and the bill was approved in April 2005. This law punishes acts including the following: an act of declaring a false name or address upon subscription, etc.; an act of commercially transferring mobile phones or PHS to others for value without the consent of the mobile phone/PHS carriers; an act of commercially lending mobile phones/PHS to others for value without confirming the name and address of the borrower; an act of transferring mobile phones/PHS owned by others.

## (3) Measures against illegal and harmful contents

In October 2004, the MIC and telecom groups worked together to revise the “Guidelines Related to Libel and Privacy” which were prepared by the Conference on Examining Guidelines for the Provider Liability Law, consisting of industry organizations, etc., adding a procedure in which the human rights organization of the Ministry of Justice (Director of a Legal Affairs Bureau or a District Legal Affairs Bureau) asks the Internet service provider (ISP) to remove certain information when the distribution of the information on the Internet seriously abuses human rights and when it is difficult for the injured party to recover from or prevent the damage by themselves. The MIC also made efforts to publicize the revision.

The distribution of imitation and pirated copies at Internet auction sites has also been a growing problem recently. Hence, in December 2004, the “Working Group Related to Trademark Rights” was launched by telecom carriers, groups of rights holders, and others to study new guidelines governing methods for providers to respond.

## (4) Measures against phishing

The problem of phishing, which is an act of obtaining personal information on the Internet by fraud, has also been surfacing in Japan since around the autumn of 2004. Because e-mail and Websites are serving as core tools for phishing, since January 2005 the MIC has convened the Liaison Group for the Promotion of Phishing Countermeasures, mainly consisting of telecommunications carriers providing Internet access services, to share information and consider effective countermeasures.

## 2 Promoting measures for information security and privacy protection

## (1) Government-wide information security measures

The government’s information security policy was drastically reviewed by setting up a Committee for Essential Issues on Information Security in the Information Security Special Investigation Council in July 2004. Based on the decision of the IT Strategic Headquarters (“The Review of the role and functions of the government in terms of measures to address information security issues” December 2004) given in response to the committee proposals, the National Information Security Center was established in April 2005 in order to reinforce uniform and cross-sectoral comprehensive adjustment of information security measures across the entire government. Also, in March 2005, the Information Security Policy Conference, which is capable of formulating basic strategies on information security policy and conduct ex ante and ex post facto evaluation of information security policy, was established within the IT Strategic Headquarters.

## (2) Protecting personal information in the information and communications field

Regarding the protection of personal information, which comprehensively covers all fields, in May 2003 the government promulgated the Law Concerning the Protection of Personal Information. This law went into full effect in April 2005.

With regard to further measures for protecting personal information in the information and communications field, the MIC revised the “Guidelines on the Protection of Personal Information in the Telecommunications Business” and enacted “Guidelines for Protecting Personal Information of Broadcasting Receiver, etc.” in August 2004 based on the examination at the Study Group Concerning Information Privacy in the Telecommunications Business Field and the Study Group on Protecting Personal Information in the Field of Broadcasting and Satellite Broadcasting in the IT Age in order to more strictly ensure appropriate handling of personal information. These guidelines have been applied since April 2005.

The above study groups also examined legislative measures for protecting personal information in the