A civic group petitioned the Kumamoto Prefectural Government on Friday to return 220 million yen used to run the resident registry network, which they say violates a local ordinance forbidding leaks of personal data.
The Kumamoto Civic Center, based in the city of Kumamoto, asked the local government to return the amount it has spent on operating the information-sharing system, members of the group said.
The petition says numerous problems have occurred since the Aug. 5 inauguration of the nationwide registry network, which assigns an 11-digit number to every registered resident in Japan.
It cites examples such as the mistaken delivery of mail containing citizens' identification numbers and envelopes through which the numbers can be read.
The petition also says that irreparable damage could be caused if the prefecture continues to provide personal information to the network without the central government taking proper steps to protect such data.
The group will also file a similar petition with the town of Nishigoshi.
Different levels of government, both central and local, can access citizens' registry data through the newly created network, which contains information including the name, sex, date of birth and address of each citizen.