Japan’s Attempt at Internet Regulation Scares Me
December 29, 2007 Internet, Politics
While catching up on the few million websites that were updated today, I happened upon this article on Gyaku talking about the Japanese government’s plans to further regulate three areas of the internet. At first my reaction was “since the feds can’t do anything right anyways, this won’t amount to anything”. But after thinking it over a bit, we could be seeing the start of something terrible: losing the freedom of self-expression. I won’t go over the entire article, since the one on Gyaku was written quite well, but I would like to discuss the apparent plan to regulate web content.
According to the article, a recent study by Professor Emetrius at the Hitosubashi University outlines some basic guidelines for regulating web content through the application of the existing Broadcast Law. The final report sets down the steps required to move forward and submit a bill with the proposed regulations to the Japanese government during the 2010 diet session. Since that’s just two short years away, it doesn’t give me much time to learn fluent Japanese and get right into politics … but it won’t stop me from getting the word out.
In this report, the primary efforts are spent blurring the line between “information transmission” and “broadcasting”. As it is, this distinction becomes less meaningful as we’re all essentially broadcasting ourselves through digital media every time we share something with the online community, but this planned legislation wants to solidify it and give it a name. In this case, that name is “open communication”.
These two words, open communication, are insanely vague and can mean everything from sending text messages through cell phones, to writing this post right here. Online content is currently excluded from from government regulation thanks to the limited scope in the existing laws. But with the change, all online content with the exception of private messages (email, text messages, instant messaging, etc.) will be targeted by this policy. Blogs, websites, online forums and every other means of communication online will be subject to the new laws.
What are the laws going to be, you ask? Well, online content judged to be “harmful” according to standards which aren’t clear and/or don’t exist yet, would be subject to law-enforced correction or removal. The report doesn’t talk about prison time, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility it might exist.
Considering how I now live in this country and hope to call it home for many years to come, I’m strongly opposed to any regulation of the internet. China’s trying to do this and all it’s managed to do is create a 2-tier internet in that country. Other nations have strong controls on their ISP’s and it’s changed the entire purpose of the online system. What’s the point of being online if you can’t get the information you need or hear opinions that might not be popular with the existing government?
For now this legislation will only be for content that is hosted from inside of Japan, but how hard would it be to take the incredibly vague “open communications” name and apply it to content hosted anywhere on the planet? Rather than legally go after someone in another nation, though, it wouldn’t take much to have all ISP’s put a block on a particular site, or filter out pages with specific key words. Heck, my previous employer did this and it infuriated me … made the internet almost useless enough that I stayed focussed on work for more than six hours a day 
Seriously, though. Governments shouldn’t be regulating content. Right to free speech is in the Japanese constitution, just as it is in the constitutions of several other nations that claim to be democratic. Taking away these rights is tantamount to “Thought Police”, and I don’t care to think about such things in my home countries. You can leave that crap in America.
I hadn’t planned on becoming involved in Japanese politics, but if this is the road they’re going to start travelling, then I can’t keep my mouth shut and let it happen. I might not like what people have to say sometimes, but I’ll be damned if someone takes away the right to say it.
Comments (6)
If our sites contain “illegal” content, they’d need to be able to read English to prove it, and I can’t see that happening!
[...] I’ve been watching the numbers climb higher every day, and I just can’t believe what I’m seeing. The most popular post I have on this site has drawn more traffic since it’s publication than I managed to get for all the posts published in the first three months of this site’s operation back in 2006. That post is, oddly enough, my article on Japan’s proposed attempt at internet regulation. [...]
That’s….dumb.
I came across your page via DerekSemmler.com. That’s rough, man. Sounds like time to rethink Japan.
Thanks, Cory.
This particular issue seems to have lost steam within the Japanese government as they’re currently having a hard enough time passing budgets and getting people assigned to the Bank of Japan. There’s just way too much in-fighting between the Upper and Lower House, which means that almost all legislation has been put on hold.
This doesn’t mean that the bill will be scrapped, of course. But it does buy citizens at least another year of reprieve before this law is seriously looked at by the powers that be. Hopefully by the time it reaches the diet, someone with half a clue about the internet will be in a position to block or outright reject any attempt to regulate its content
You might want to get in contact with Mr. Arudou Debito. He has definitely fought his share of battles with the government and may be able to help you. http://www.debito.org/
For the moment, the Japanese government has temporarily given up on policing the internet. Hopefully they will not resume the terrifying prospect in the future.
That said, if they do resume examining ways to regulate the web, I hope to be an elected member of parliament by then.