The mandatory fingerprinting of foreigners entering Japan begins in just 11 days. Are you worried about the authorities’ ability to keep sensitive data secure?

There have recently been innumerable leaks of classified information into the public domain, for example by the careless use of (banned) peer-to-peer software, by the police, the military and government workers.

A Nara police officer has taken it a stage further by “posting information about police investigations […] on a message board of Internet social networking site Mixi”.

He introduced himself in his profile section as a public servant working in the traffic division of a police station. He replaced some of the kanji identifying the police station where he is assigned with symbols, but it was still clear that he was a police officer working at a station in Nara Prefecture.

He then went on to post details of investigations, raids and the role he would play in them. After having been reprimanded, he was quoted as saying, “I’ve been careless.”

Yes, I’m sure logging in to Mixi, typing reams of confidential information and posting it to the internet making it available to a readership of some 11 million people can happen in just a few careless keystrokes. Oops!

So remember the ol’ maxim, kids - “If you keep your nose clean, you’ve nothing to worry about!” Except police officers using Winny, or Mixi, or just about any authority figure with an internet connection.