Are residential proxies legal in East Asia?

What does Japanese law say?

• Personal information. The APPI governs how businesses handle personal information of people in Japan. It also applies to businesses outside Japan that handle such information in connection with supplying goods or services to people in Japan. Collecting names, contact details or other personal data through a proxy is covered like any other collection.
• Unauthorized access. The Act on Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access forbids entering a computer that has access controls by using another person's ID and password, or by exploiting a security flaw (Article 3), and forbids obtaining someone else's ID for that purpose (Article 4).
• What it means in practice. Viewing public pages through a Japanese IP is not unauthorized access. Signing in with credentials that are not yours, or getting past a login, is.

What does South Korean law say?

• Personal information. PIPA governs the processing of personal information and is enforced by the Personal Information Protection Commission. Collecting personal information of people in Korea needs a legal basis under the Act.
• Network intrusion. Article 48 of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (the Network Act) forbids entering an information and communications network without a legitimate right of access, or beyond the access permitted.
• What it means in practice. Viewing public Naver or Coupang pages signed out usually raises no question under Article 48; large-scale collection can still raise contract, database or unfair-competition claims. Using an account that is not yours, or going beyond the access a service gives you, does.

What does Taiwanese law say?

• Personal data. The Personal Data Protection Act governs the collection, processing and use of personal data, by public bodies and by non-government agencies, including companies.
• Computer security offences. Chapter 36 of the Criminal Code (Articles 358 to 363) covers offences such as entering another person's computer without reason by using their account and password, by cracking protection measures or by exploiting a system flaw, and interfering with computers.
• What it means in practice. Viewing public PChome or Google Taiwan pages through a Taiwanese IP is ordinary browsing; entering accounts or systems without authority is a criminal matter.

What does Hong Kong law say?

• Personal data. The Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) sets data protection principles for collecting, holding and using personal data, enforced by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data.
• Computer access. Section 161 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) covers obtaining access to a computer with criminal or dishonest intent, and section 27A of the Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106) covers unauthorized access to a computer by telecommunications.
• Use from mainland China. The JapanProxies service must not be used from mainland China. Our acceptable use policy forbids using the service to reach content or services that the law of the user's location prohibits.

What about the websites' own rules?

Every site has terms of use, and many restrict automated access or the reuse of their content. A proxy changes your IP address; it does not change those terms. Breaking them can lead to blocked access and, in some cases, to legal claims under contract or unfair competition law.

Practical rules that keep checks clean:

• prefer official APIs and tools where they exist (Google Search Console, Naver Developers, Kakao Developers, Rakuten Web Service, the Coupang Open API);
• view public pages, signed out, at a human pace;
• respect robots.txt and a site's decision about whom it serves;
• collect personal information only with a legal basis, and keep as little as you can.

What does JapanProxies allow?

JapanProxies is for legitimate checks: search results, ad verification, public prices, localization testing and privacy. Our acceptable use policy forbids fraud, spam, attacks, unauthorized access, collecting personal data without a legal basis, and reaching services that the user's local law prohibits. These targets are blocked for every customer: Banking, government and payment-portal sites, plus SMTP (email-sending) ports 25, 465 and 587. Abuse reports are reviewed by a person, and confirmed abuse leads to suspension.