Data Breach Affecting 20 Million in Japan Prods Early Revision of Data Protection Law

A data breach at Japan’s largest provider of correspondence education for children—possibly affecting one-sixth of the country’s population—is prodding the government to amend and reinforce the Personal Information Protection Law earlier than planned and into a much tougher form than previously envisioned, according to government officials.

On July 9, Benesse Holdings Inc., a Tokyo-based company that operates Shinkenzemi correspondence education courses for schoolchildren, announced in a statement that the personal information of up to 20.7 million customers was leaked from its subsidiary Benesse Corp.

The Benesse incident came weeks after the government began drafting amendments to strengthen the law’s privacy ...