JAPAN COMPUTERS CONTAINING PERSONAL POPULATION INFORMATION STOLEN FROM MUNICIPAL WELFARE FACILITYMainichi Interactive - Top NewsComputer stolen containing personal information for population survey


SAPPORO -- A personal computer containing personal information used for a population survey has been stolen from a municipal welfare facility, city officials said Saturday.

Officials at West 19, a social welfare facility run by the Sapporo Municipal Health Center, found last Tuesday morning that two laptop personal computers had been stolen from a third-floor office, and reported it to local police.

One of the computers contains about 29,000 pieces of personal information necessary for a government survey on the movement of a population. The information includes names, birth dates, addresses, occupations, causes of death, as well as details on marriages, divorces and childbirths.

The other computer is a spare one and contains no information, the officials said. Both computers cannot be turned on unless a password is entered.

Police and health center officials suspect that the computers were stolen sometime between the evening of Dec. 28 and Tuesday morning when the facility was closed for the New Year vacation. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Jan. 8, 2005