In a rare ruling, a Japanese court has ordered mobile service provider
"It is believed to be the first court ruling ordering the disclosure of a mobile phone number," said
A communications ministry ordinance states that only an individual's name, home address and email address can be disclosed, but phone numbers cannot due to privacy concerns.
The plaintiff had sought disclosure of the mobile phone number on the grounds that it should be regarded as a short message service address.
On
"It is an effective means to identify a sender of information and can be used as a way to contact the individual to seek damages," the judge said.
The court also ordered the disclosure as the posted comments including one stating that "the top two (of the company) are fat and flabby."
==Kyodo
© Kyodo News International, Inc., source