Japan's Brand New Anti-Piracy Law Goes Live (torrentfreak.com) 39
A few hours ago and after years of preparation, amendments to Japan's copyright law came into effect, aiming to criminalize those who download unlicensed manga, magazines, and academic texts from the Internet. From a report: While uploading pirated content has always been illegal, the new law is quite specific in that it criminalizes the downloading of unlicensed content. While that could take place in a simultaneous upload environment such as BitTorrent, it seems most likely that people will obtain content from websites instead. That presents some roadblocks to enforcement so we asked Ina how, from a technical perspective, will the authorities track, obtain evidence, and prosecute people who simply download content (comics, movies, music etc) to their machines but don't distribute? "The authorities shall use digital forensic technologies to track suspects' activities and collect evidence. The details of such technologies have not been publicly available," Masaharu Ina from Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA explained. "There are certain special units specialized in cyber crimes in each prefecture. For example, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police has its own Cyber Crime Control Unit. But the police do not investigate unless the person commits the crime repeatedly, intentionally and maliciously, i.e. innocent light downloaders shall not be prosecuted."
Criminals will have a field day with this... (Score:3)
Just get into some rival's computer, download stuff and he's gone.
Re: Criminals will have a field day with this... (Score:3)
Oh kid... Do it like the professionals:
"State-sponsored actors" have been uploading child porn or bomb building instructions and contacts to terrorists to targets' computers for ages.
All those swatters forgot that that is the first step, before you call in the SWAT team.
If you want to go real pro, you even add a few e-mail and IM conversations that make it look like this was months in the making.
Re:Criminals will have a field day with this... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Criminals will have a field day with this... (Score:2)
Also, TFS contains circular reasoning:
> [We won't hack people's computers] unless the person commits the "crime" [SIC] repeatedly, intentionally and maliciously
And how would they know that, without at least hacking people's computers? (And downloading data from them without having a license!!11eleven Clearly the "greater" "crime"!)
Seriously, this is *literally* the organized crime running the show!
unless the person commits the crime ...maliciously (Score:3)
How does one download maliciously?
Re:unless the person commits the crime ...maliciou (Score:5, Funny)
They probably wear a monocle while downloading. Wearing a handlebar mustache, if they are follicularly endowed. Maybe some demented cackling, or monologues about their plan to download the entire Internet?
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They probably wear a monocle while downloading. Wearing a handlebar mustache, if they are follicularly endowed. Maybe some demented cackling, or monologues about their plan to download the entire Internet?
While stroking a fluffy white cat. You forgot the fluffy white cat.
Re: (Score:2)
No it the moron idiots who wrote the law in a diminishing economy, need to make the monies, the profits some how. The intent, quite clear, prosecute the parents of the children who download content. It's a trap, you can no longer use the internet, you vermin, except from government approved and licencesd sources, you do not know if you children will ever downloand content, hell, how could you know, any website at any time could tempt you into downloaded a prison sentence. BE SAFE, only use the government ap
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In this context, I would expect that would refer to engaging in the act in full awareness that it was illegal. I.E., a deliberate disregard for the law.
It's probably a less than ideal word choice.
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Only touching the tip of the iceberg. Is that because you were rushing to FP?
I'd like to thank someone for bringing this to my attention, but msmash didn't include a user citation. If msmash is the source, then thanks. I am definitely going to look into this.
I could say a LOT about several aspects of the topic, but for now I'm just going to make some popcorn and revisit the discussion later on. A case of too much too say and not wanting to confess to activities that may have become crimes? I do think there'
Hello Kitty (Score:1)
You mean pro-piracy. (Score:3)
If anything should be compared to robbing peope and raping them on the high seas, it's creating an artificial scarcity monopoly on the works of others to run a protection racket against their fans and rob them of money without doing any work whatsoever in return, just because you snorted too much cocaine to accept that the Internet made your record copying and distribution business pointless and drove your "business" model ad absurdum, and all that is left of you is the seedy little drug addict thug that leeches on art and causes the digital dark ages because he never achieved great art himself in his entire life.
(Disclaimer: I worked in those "industries".)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
You really need a hobby.
Re: (Score:1)
When the Japanese government regulates the Japanese people, it is not for you to declare those people "on the high seas."
OK, you don't acknowledge the legitimacy of the Japanese government, that just makes you dumb asshole.
And even dumber, because you think cocaine is popular in Japan in the recording industry. The biggest cocaine bust ever in Japan, a country with very strict (and enforced) drug laws, is believed to be a shipment that was sent to the wrong port. Oops. That happens in smuggling, it is a dif
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody questions the legitimacy of the Trump presidency. Yet non-Americans keep complaining about him. Funny how that works.
If you know anything about Japan and its politics, you know it's run on nepotism and backroom deals. It's about as illegitimate as you can get while still calling yourself a democracy.
Re: (Score:2)
No, asshole, most Americans have been complaining about Huuge Pumpkinhead for 4 years.
He won election by losing the popular vote.
That's the stupidest possible argument against the accusation of jingoism; Trumping out! LOL
Ill thought out (Score:1)
I'll just link on some site (twitter, facebook, or whatever) to a few copyrighted images with the equivalent whatever FB/twitter does to embed images into posts. Bingo! instant law breakers if you post into a few groups with an anon account.
I think this law is very poorly thought out, but VERY convenient if you want to get someone in shit.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not really poorly thought out. The Japanese legal system is quite different than the American system, and that should be taken into consideration.
The essential thing to remember is that if you annoy other people enough, you will be arrested. If you don't annoy other people, then you'll probably be fine.
Guess the FSF was right after all :( (Score:4, Insightful)
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy... [gnu.org]
It's a shame this story is starting to noticeably become the truth of the situation.
Re: (Score:2)
If you spent the time to analyze the ideas that pop into your head then you'd be able to form an opinion about specifically how what the FSF wrote is relevant, instead of just guessing that it is.
Easy. (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Find a dodgy streaming site.
2. Seize servers.
3. Obtain logs.
4. Match IP/time pairs to ISP subscriber records.
5. Pick out a few people who are not wealthy enough to afford high-paid lawyers.
6. Threaten them into a confession.
7. Law enforced.
Re: (Score:2)
Japanese police don't actually need to do steps 1 and 2 in order for them to get to step 3. They can just start at step 3. And in fact, that is the enforcement plan they have communicated to the public.
Also, step 5 is not a thing in Japan. Lawyers are not nearly as useful to your defense there, as they are in the US or in some parts of Europe.
The role of the defense lawyer is mostly to negotiate step 6.
And unlike in the US, they might really get to step 7 by this route. They have different civics, different
In other news (Score:2)
VPN usage in Japan goes up in 2021.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh look, he uses a VPN!
Must have something to hide. Target him!
Whac-a-Mole, Japan edition (Score:4, Insightful)
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They keep tightening their grip, and everything slides through their fingers more and more
Japan is an island nation in the west Pacific, on the planet Earth. A real place, with real events. And since you know nothing at all about the place, or what events are happening there, you presume that events matching your desires were what happened. LOL
You don't need cavity searches to bust sneakernet in Japan.
Re: (Score:2)
They don't actually need to stamp out piracy. They just need to make it inconvenient enough that few people bother with it. If downloading a film takes three hours of fiddling with obscure protocols and trying to find a torrent site that works, most people will just pay up for a legitimate streaming service subscription. The only people left pirating will be the anti-corporate idealogues and the very un-wealthy, neither of which would be likely to buy their entertainment regardless.
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Stupid (Score:2)
Anime, manga and all the Japanese media would have stayed unknown starting from the 90s if there was not internet, pirates, scanlators, fansubbers.
Re: (Score:1)
> Anime, manga and all the Japanese media would have stayed unknown* starting from the 90s if there was not internet, pirates, scanlators, fansubbers.
And maybe they liked it that way.
* in the west
This is Japan (Score:3)
Are there any Japanese people here who can tell us if it is a big deal or not?
To me, it looks like Japan has a very different approach to piracy compared to the west. It doesn't look as widespread, or at least, better hidden. It also looks like counterfeiters and "commercial" pirates have a harder time there too, but I didn't hear much about justice targeting individual consumers.
And beside that, there is a thriving doujinshi community, a significant fraction of them using copyrighted characters to make porn without authorization. And you find these in large stores in Akihabara, and in fact, there is a huge event (Comiket) dedicated to it. And rightsholders don't seem to mind. I don't think it would be the same if you tried that in the US with Disney characters...
Trust the police not to investigate minor uses???? (Score:2)
Yes, they absolutely promise not to investigate or arrest you if you only do it a couple of times.
They absolutely will not pick and choose to harass people for doing this should they decide the person is 'undesirable'. Totally trust the cops.
Because if you do not trust them, they will harass, investigate and arrest you for doing this.
Good Government (Score:1)
"Maliciously" (Score:1)
How does one "maliciously" download? Also does Japan intend their laws to extend past their island nation?
Asking for a friend.
E