2022 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 51-72
In Japan, there aren’t legal standards for the voluntary provision of user’s information from companies managing online Platforms to law enforcement authorities.
The article examines what legal requirements must have when they put the provision of information into action by comparing the legal situation in Japan with this in Germany.
In Germany, Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) has put into operation in 2017. The Act has required to enable the receipt of requests by law enforcement authorities in Germany (Art 5(2)). The article has researched and analyzed the discussion during legislation for Art.5, and shows two issues about the voluntary provision of the information from companies to law enforcement authorities.
First, the research reveals that there is a noteworthy issue how should be understood what “companies’ cooperating with the authorities based on their own free will”. Because, though the discussion during legislation for NetzDG had emphasized “companies’ free will”, while the actual Act has had the provision to impose an expensive penalty when someone violates the duty on Art.5.
Second, in the phase of law enforcement or criminal procedure, it’s often difficult to acquire the consent of the person. Could the companies managing online Platforms provide their information to law enforcement authorities without the consent of users? This is an important issue, because users have fundamental rights, for example, freedom of speech, the right to self-determination about information, and the right to personality.
The article shows how it deals with those legal issues. An author insists on a specific solution which to justify companies’ cooperation with law enforcement authorities. The legal framework based on this solution would require regulations for the behavior of both companies and authorities.
