Maezawa here.
This is a highly sensitive issue, and the legal interpretation can be difficult, but—
For example, suppose a woman who previously failed to show up for a date without contacting us was forcibly banned, and later came in for an interview pretending nothing had happened. If we had no information about her, we might register her again, only for her not to show up on the date once more.
To prevent situations like that, we delete the data from the member-facing pages, but we need to retain the information internally. Otherwise, someone who was forcibly banned could simply rejoin.
I believe other companies also retain the absolute minimum information necessary to prevent such things from happening.
Universe handles this information in compliance with the law, so I hope you can feel reassured.
Also, we have no ties to antisocial organizations, so the possibility of the data being passed on to them for some reason is virtually zero.
As for inquiries from the police, in Universe’s case, we only provide information when presented with a search and seizure warrant issued by a court, so our requirements for disclosure are somewhat stricter than those of ordinary companies.
(At least for now.)
When ordinary companies receive an inquiry from the police, they provide information based on Article 197, Paragraph 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which states that investigative authorities may request public offices or public- or private-sector organizations to report the necessary information regarding an investigation.
(This may be clear from the recent news about T-Card information being provided to the police without a formal inquiry document concerning investigative matters, which became a problem.)
Universe is pretty bold. (笑)
It’s quite an incredible company, standing up to the power of the state.
If personal information is provided to investigators at the stage of an inquiry document concerning investigative matters, limited strictly to the scope of the investigation, business operations can continue without interruption. However, if a search and seizure warrant is issued, we might have to shut down the servers.
That would bring operations to a halt, but—
Their determination to protect personal information even to that extent is truly impressive.
(Actually, it’s almost too impressive—it’s a little scary. 笑)
Most companies can’t go that far, so even large companies apparently provide information when presented with an inquiry document concerning investigative matters.
(When CCC made the news, it was because they had provided the information even without that form.)
