

Japan introduces piracy penalties for illegal downloads - harisenbon
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19767970

======
kristopher
Just wait until someone gets arrested.

The technology will change once again to get around the legalese. Also of
note, Japan has very strong anti-wiretapping laws[0] that prohibit carriers
and other providers from port blocking, tapping or redirecting packets -- the
only presumable legal way for these associations to check on downloaders would
be to hold illegal content themselves and wait for a Japanese IP address to
connect.

[0]
[http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E4%BF%A1%E3%81%AE%E7%...](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E4%BF%A1%E3%81%AE%E7%A7%98%E5%AF%86)

~~~
Retric
Can they connect to a public torrent tracker and have them send a list of
peers? That seems about as close to wiretapping as reading a public message
board.

PS: That page is not in English, so I don't think it's vary useful for the
average HN reader.

------
iloveponies
Interesting how this will actually happen, given as all the popular Japanese
p2p networks are encrypted - of recent their efforts have not been on
downloaders but on uploaders since Perfect Dark is apparently leaking
information on the latter.

------
ekianjo
This was discussed on tv in japan a few days ago and the agencies responsible
for tracking people admitted their resouces were limited and they would focus
only on people who multiply infrigments.

~~~
gknoy
For now, I presume. The resources to do this sort of thing will only get
cheaper as time moves on.

------
_pferreir_
Dear nineties, please bring my Internet back, the Internet politicians didn't
even care about.

~~~
tisme
It's simply a factor of how many people use a given medium.

As soon as a large fraction of the population uses it then legislators will
start to care about it.

The only way to bring back the internet of the 90's is to start a new one. And
once it is successful enough (which is only a matter of time) then legislators
will once again become involved.

So what you really want is to kick off 90%+ of the internet population.

------
pheon
It shows how corrupt the Japanese government here is. Not only did they sign
RIAA into law with little fan-fare.. they made it a _criminal_ offense by
default.

If you asked the RIAA exactly what they dream of, this is it.

------
phragg
How much different is this than the laws governed in US today?

If someone is downloading copyright protected movies / music, the MPAA / RIAA
respectively will come down on them and subject them to fines.

Now, I don't know anyone that has actually been convicted of this, however,
there are accounts.

Any first/second hand accounts?

~~~
ghshephard
There are no laws against downloading copyrighted protected movies/music that
I know of in the United Sates. Indeed, I do so daily from dozens of sites,
usually paying, sometimes not - I trust the publisher to verify whether they
are authorized to sell/give me those files.

------
ripperdoc
Seems like a good time to switch to Usenet here then - not watertight but much
less likely to get into trouble (at least I'm ready to try that theory).
Anyone know a good Usenet provider for Japan based connections?

------
Tipzntrix
Haha, I find it funny that they're called the RIAJ, as though they are in
collusion with the RIAA.

------
conradfr
Well you would not download a nuclear plant ...

------
TheAmazingIdiot
So.. Now the Japanese find willing VPN providers in Russia and/or China?

Nobody can trust their own government these days. Especially if said laws
concern copyright laws.

~~~
yock
Not to get political, meta, or both, but it always intrigues me when people
talk about "trust" in the context of third parties, most especially
government. Government is made up of people, not unlike yourself, and those
people are suceptible to the same personal pressures as anyone else. To imply
that "government" should be trusted on its face also implies that the
individuals that make up government should be similarly trusted. I don't think
you'd agree with the later, so I don't understand why you're astonished that
the former turns out to be untrue.

People, and the entities they comprise, earn trust by virtue of what they do.
No more, no less.

~~~
kapitalx
You can have a system of governance where even though an individual cannot be
trusted by themselves, it is more likely to trust the system given that a
larger group of people have to make the decision together. (in fact most
governments are setup like that, which is why the US government for example is
more trustworthy than a dictatorship).

In the case of copyright law, the individuals voting might truly think they
are doing the right thing for the economy, as not all politicians are corrupt
(or so I'd like to think).

~~~
pi18n
When you look at a bill like SOPA, there's no reasonable conclusion other than
the majority is corrupt or the majority is willing to vote on something they
do not understand. Both situations are fairly disturbing.

~~~
Retric
SOPA did not get passed, so it's reasonable to argue it's a sign that the
system works.

~~~
nitrogen
The fact that a massive Internet backlash was required is a sign that the
system is broken.

~~~
pi18n
Yes, this is exactly how I feel. The law was horrible, but it had a majority.
The only explanation is that the legislators are voting about something they
don't understand or are flat-out corrupt.

The fact that SOPA wasn't passed after Wikipedia closed down in protest
doesn't comfort me, because they'll still attempt to and be able to pass
increasingly restrictive laws. The entire internet won't rally against every
one.

------
captaintacos
And so it begins...

~~~
captaintacos
whoa! why the 3 point down voting? I live here in Japan. Is it wrong to be
depressed about this law too?

