Japan Enacts Bill Banning Use of Loss Prevention Tags for Stalking

Tokyo, Dec. 3 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill revising the antistalking law to prohibit the use of loss prevention tags to track stalking victims’ locations. The revised law, expected to take effect by the end of the year, will penalize the acts of placing loss prevention tags in victims’ belongings without consent and obtaining locational information through the devices. It will allow police to issue written warnings even without requests from victims, in case that they may change their minds later. This is based on lessons learned from a high-profile stalking-murder case in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. While stricter prohibition orders will remain available, swiftly issuing warnings is expected to help protect victims. Additionally, police will be allowed to request that investigation firms and others stop gathering information that could help stalkers. Police will also be able to issue warnings and take other measures even after victims relocate across prefectural borders. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]