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See the original image at arstechnica.com —

Japan proposes Net censorship, watermarking

arstechnica.com — The Japanese government may begin to more heavily scrutinize websites mobile content and file sharing if a series of proposals go through. "Harmful" content could be censored and copyrighted files would be watermarked under two of the proposals.

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  • webaddict, on 01/04/2008, -0/+38I'm sure Japan is facing much more serious issues than the US on the mobile front due to their advanced bandwidth and mobile technology but I REALLY hope this kind of trash doesn't bleed over into our sad mobile world!
    • kuzotz, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1our mobile world is pathetic. I can't wait to goto Japan!!!!!

      August in Japan if you in Beppu hit me up at APU!!! :D
      • Gir53457, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Did some one say weeaboo? I think I heard someone say weeaboo...
  • Napoleone, on 01/04/2008, -0/+68I have no problem with someone watermarking their own content, but assuming everything not watermarked is illegal is just beyond the normal human capacity for stupid.
    • jeffiek, on 01/04/2008, -2/+17Normal humans have a limit for stupid?????
    • RSJ115, on 01/04/2008, -0/+11"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
    • cornswalled, on 01/04/2008, -4/+1Anyone looking to protect their own content will watermark it. This will just force more people to become educated on watermarking technology and will result in people better protecting their digital creations. How is this a problem?
      • Napoleone, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Please learn how to read.
      • drachemorder, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4If by "protecting" you mean "even more restrictive and controlling and unreasonable than they already are" then you might be right.
  • hydroplane, on 01/04/2008, -19/+10Those sandal-wearing goldfish tenders? Ha ha! Bosh! Flimflaw!
    • kevinmotel, on 01/04/2008, -2/+7sorry friend, the quote was too far obscure, i have the entire section here:


      [Mr. Burns is reminiscing about his grandfather's old Atom Smashing Plant]
      Burns' Grandfather: Come on, men! Smash those atoms! You there, turn out your pockets.
      [Two goons seize a waifish worker and turn out his pockets]
      Burns' Grandfather: Aha - atoms! One, two, three, four... SIX of them! Take him away!
      Waif: You can't treat the working man this way! One of these days we'll form a union, and get the fair and equitable treatment we deserve! Then we'll go too far, and become corrupt and shiftless, and the Japanese will eat us alive!
      Burns' Grandfather: The Japanese? Those sandal-wearing goldfish tenders? Ha ha! Bosh! Flimflaw!
      Mr. Burns: Oh, if only we'd listened to that young man, instead of walling him up in the abandoned coke oven.
      • john2kx, on 01/04/2008, -1/+3it's kind of sad that you knew where the quote was from.
    • cornswalled, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1If that's all they were, WWII would have been a very different war. We would have steamed over Hitler in a few months instead of having to divide our resources over two major theaters.
  • Falldog, on 01/04/2008, -0/+27Japanese censorship rules are already pretty stupid http://www.imgdump.info/img-censoring-39151.htm (nsfw)

    Taking censorship rules to the max, with mandatory watermarking and web filtering is only going to hurt cultural development in the long run, especially vs. educating parents on their responsibility to monitor their children at their own digression.
    • MillionsLivio, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7Yeah, the laws around hentai really don't make any sense.
      • vernsan, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4Apparently only objects that resemble a penis is blurred.
        • thetechkid, on 01/04/2008, -11/+2As it should be.
          • kevinmotel, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5you mean thats not what japanese penises look like?
        • pirloui, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7Only the genitals need to be censored; else, as one have notices, everything goes. Quite ridiculous IMO.
          • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1All censorship is ridiculous. The Japanese economy is going to crash if they push for harsher censorship.
    • thebellmaster1x, on 01/04/2008, -0/+6I just can't wrap them around my head. Pubic hair needs a huge mosaic around it in regular pornography, a thin black line will suffice in H manga—I doubt a native Japanese person could properly explain it to me.
      • pirloui, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5For what I know, pubic hair has gone of the (short) banned list since a while.
        As for the h-manga, indeed, they stretch to the utter limits.
    • bingobongony, on 01/04/2008, -11/+2Seriously...those asinine "motivational posters" crap are probably the worst trend of 2007. Don't take them into 2008. None of them were funny, which made teh 2014th one just excruciating.
    • kuzotz, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Japan has a declining population and insanely high amounts of teen suicides, and then groups of young adults both male, and female that refuse to move out, and have sex, and have families.Anyway talk to a Japanese person that lives outside of Japan you will find out they have nothing nice to say about the country. Especially the Brazilians of Japanese descent.
  • davidkeithjones, on 01/04/2008, -0/+36Ugh! Some people wont be satisfied until the web is controlled like cable television.
    • Baelorn, on 01/04/2008, -0/+14Isn't that their goal(Telecom's)? Cable television is one of the greatest scams ever invented.
    • SLockhart, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1Controlled like cable tv? You mean with a remote.
      • davidkeithjones, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3If they could they would direct you to a web portal where all you could do is click "content" links.
        • kuzotz, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1you pay for extra ***** and get substandard free *****.

          That's what they want.
    • cornswalled, on 01/04/2008, -6/+1You say that like it's a bad thing. We need to drive the pedophiles and perverts back underground, so they're alone and isolated instead of banding together to cause trouble.
      • directrix13, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3Yes, it is a bad thing. Censorship is a bad thing. I don't give a ***** about pedophiles and perverts.
        • cornswalled, on 01/07/2008, -0/+1"I don't give a ***** about pedophiles and perverts."

          Let me guess, you don't have any kids, nieces or nephews, do you?
      • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Fascism is fun!
    • mathcreative, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1I hate limited content, but the internet is the consumers greatest weapons, and the big corps and goverments know that. They want to take our weapons
  • luet, on 01/04/2008, -2/+122CH WILL NOT PERMIT THIS
    • TeamDynasty, on 01/04/2008, -2/+1Woah, i just went to 2chan, at the top it says the website is for sale =X

      This should be digg news =P
      • timpkmn89, on 01/04/2008, -0/+32ch =/= 2chan

        2ch = popular text-only board
        4chan = the same as 2chan, except in Japanese and with less people
  • thebellmaster1x, on 01/04/2008, -0/+16Er, quick question about the "harmful" content.
    Don't pornography and hentai make up a reaaaaaaly large industry in Japan? Seems like a bad move economically as well as ethically.
    • bundwallah, on 01/04/2008, -2/+8LOL. No kidding! Japan seems to be very civil on the outside and deviant on the inside. Not surprising though. Anytime you suppress something, whether it be emotions, language, etc all you do is redirect those natural outlets elsewhere. I even heard of vending machines where you can buy used schoolgirl's underwear. That is creepy. Can anyone confirm that??
      • donmanguno, on 01/04/2008, -2/+4it's true, you can buy schoolgirl's underwear in vending machines and at adult novelty stores. girls will wear them all day then stop at the store on the way home to sell them to the vendors. they even get paid more for slightly soiled panties. i think i speak for everyone when i say WHAT THE *****???!?!?!?!
        • prophetpimp, on 01/04/2008, -2/+1Thats just the start. The Japanese are weirdos. i am not being racist or an *****, i am jut telling you the fact. read the link and the decide if wanna digg me up or down.
          http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2005/08/curiosities- ...
          • gullevek, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3Ah yeah, and you really think Japan is only this. But like every time, You only see what you want to see.
          • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Buried for trying to pass your opinion off as "fact".
        • arcticblue, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1The panty vending machines were stopped in the early 90's IIRC. Also, I just went to an adult novelty store here in Japan with my wife and her friend yesterday and the only panties being sold were fresh, new thongs.
        • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -1/+1The people that claim you can buy "used schoolgirl's underwear" in Japanese vending machines need to provide a REAL source. From what I heard this is just an urban myth.
    • MasterInsan0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Actually, I'm pretty sure that's just an outsider perspective. We hear more about the weird stuff, like porn and weakly-censored hentai, than we do the normal stuff. From what I know, Japan is a very conservative society. And yes, conservative societies tend to produce strange underground activities that are outlets for repressed emotion, such as rape hentai (wtf?) and panty vending machines. But they are, most certainly, underground activities.
      • Ramble, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1I believe you're right, most Japanese people that can speak English I've seen hate the stupid image of Japan everywhere.
        Although, you can't doubt that it is indeed weirder than any other westernised country.
        • arcticblue, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2It's really not as weird as people think it is. Yeah, it's different, but I wouldn't say it's weird. From what I've read, there's alot of rape porn (especially starring girls in school uniforms) to give potential rapists something to watch and keep them from actually raping someone. Whether that idea works or not, I don't know. Also, 2girls1cup is weirder and more disgusting than any Japanese porno I've ever seen. (I do believe scat porn is illegal here also since there is no way to make it "decent"...it's just too repulsive)
  • xsquirrel378x, on 01/04/2008, -0/+11internet censorship is serious business
  • Scheissen, on 01/04/2008, -9/+5 This is our future liberal society.
    • rficwizard, on 01/04/2008, -2/+8Is that sarcasm? It's hard to tell online. Both by the classical and current definitions of "liberal", liberals are less likely than conservatives to want to censor speech.
      • Scheissen, on 01/04/2008, -2/+2um no
        • john2kx, on 01/04/2008, -2/+3sorry, but the Christian-hijacked conservative movement today is more likely to want to censor things to "protect children and families" and all that. They are, after all, the self-proclaimed "values voters" (as if they somehow have a monopoly on morality).
          • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -0/+3You are talking about the neocon movement. Real conservatives like Ron Paul and other libertarians want to limit the role of government as much as possible.
        • Ramble, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1"Um no" is hardly a proper response, justify your assertions that the left wish to censor more than the right.
          • nicholai, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Both the neocons and neocons posing as liberals like Hillary want more censorship, taxes, war and bigger government in general.
      • Napoleone, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4Both liberals and conservatives are big censor freaks. They just have disagreements over what should and shouldn't be censored.

        It was liberal Al Gore's wife that wanted the Congress to censor music. It's conservatives that want to censor cable tv shows.
    • Zenithan, on 01/04/2008, -3/+1You know, you have a really ***** username.
    • Akairenn, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5Liberals are just as likely to censor speech as conservatives. The difference is what gets censored. The liberals will censor anything that might offend anyone. The conservatives will censor anything involving boobs or the Constitution. :p
      • carpespasm, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2meanwhile the libertarians just wish everyone would mind their own damn business if it doesn't seriously hurt someone.
  • cyb3rdemon, on 01/04/2008, -4/+5Yet another country plans to censor the internet. Meanwhile, Russia, the country that everyone here loves to hate, never even thought of censoring online speech.
    • Pixelante, on 01/04/2008, -2/+3Because they censor offline speech quite effectively.
      You don't go blabbing about on the internet when you know you can, you know, have a nasty accident. They know where you live.
    • xsquirrel378x, on 01/04/2008, -2/+2INTERNET CENSORS YOU!
    • MasterInsan0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1That, or there's not enough people using the internet in Russia to warrant censorship. Hell, the Russian government let that one illegal MP3 site (whose name escapes me, but it's something like AllOfMp3) continue operations for so long that they were probably getting a cut of the money.
  • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -7/+2Would you rather have censored internet or monitoring of all internet traffic?
    • sys9five, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4Well to have censored internet, it must be monitored...
      • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Censored internet = content is monitored
        Internet surveillance = users are monitored
        • kris33, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3Users = Content
        • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Oh my, no. When the article says "Harmful content could be censored" they are not talking about censoring harmful users, they are talking about censoring harmful information on webpages.
    • BitterPeace, on 01/04/2008, -0/+8umm.....neither
  • blackmage439, on 01/04/2008, -7/+3Just when you think Japan is a model democracy, they turn around and prove yet again that they are just crazy, insane Asians addicted to prostitutes and Hentai; ever biting at the heels of China and longing to relive their dominant pre-1944 imperial super-power days...
    • th3heretic, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3Just when you thought you were right, you ARE wrong.
    • kuzotz, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Not many japanese even like anime let along hentai.

      And the Yakuza control prostitution despite the fact that the Yakuza is also integrated into the government.
  • Paktu, on 01/04/2008, -3/+17Where am I going to go for tentacle porn now?
    • Sister24Moon, on 01/05/2008, -1/+0Oh, you poor baby(smile)! I was thinking the same thing, because they've got some of the freakiest cartoons on the planet.
    • KingGorilla, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Animal Planet?
  • Zlorp, on 01/04/2008, -4/+2*****
  • Zlorp, on 01/04/2008, -12/+0 [insert extreme liberal alarmism here]
    • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2[Insert pointless political partisanship here]
      • Zlorp, on 01/04/2008, -2/+0[insert assumption that thinking liberals are angry, crybaby, pansies makes me a neocon/conservative here]
        • jaymzdean, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Well, you're not a conservative, since conservatives want to conserve our god-given liberties.
          And you can't be a liberal, which actually derives it's name from the word "liberty".
          Being that you despise liberty, you could be a neocon, but we'd have to hear your opinion on killing and torturing innocent women and children in the name of spreading "democracy".
          But, it would be safe to say, that, regardless of your political affiliation, you're definitely an arrogant idiot.
          • Zlorp, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Im like most people in this country. i sit back and watch both sides trying to scare everyone into seeing things their way. every once in a while one side is more right than the other, and i'll give that advantage to the liberals right now. but all of you play the same game, and that game is: going overboard with conspiracies and scare tactics to try and make people feel like they should see things your way or something bad is going to happen to them. When my choice is "what should i be more afraid of?" thats when i know its time to sit back and harass you all. All of this "the end justifies the means" ***** scare tactics is retarded. and you're retarded for thinking your better for it.
    • habbofresh, on 01/04/2008, -2/+1[insert witless response here ]
      • john2kx, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1[insert overused internet meme here]
  • habbofresh, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3does this mean everything on ebaums is legit?
  • jaymzdean, on 01/04/2008, -1/+7HEY! There's the solution!
    All you ***** fascists who want to live under tyrannical fascism can up and move to Japan!
    GO GO GO!!!!! Begone, ye weak-minded turnips!!
    B-bye!!!
    Oh, and don't let the Constitution hit you in the ass on the way out.
  • GuacamoleSan, on 01/04/2008, -2/+5the japanese people wont bow to this kind of crap
    • Napoleone, on 01/04/2008, -4/+2They have an "emperor" for crying out loud. Of course they will.
      • arcticblue, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1AFAIK the royal family is just their for tradition's sake. They are just an icon. They have a president too. I'm sure the royal family has some influence, but I do believe they have very little power when it comes to law making.

        There's too many people using cell phones over here. I don't believe they will allow this too (LOTS of people are very politcally active here)
      • mathcreative, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1The japanese people. understand more than anybody what censorship leads to. They will either stop it or find ways around it
  • anononon, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Encryption.
  • vvortex3, on 01/04/2008, -7/+2Would you rather have censored internet or monitoring of all internet traffic?

    Can I get a AMEN?
    • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1I don't think anyone else got the point of that post. Too subtle, maybe?
    • jaymzdean, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3False dichotomy much?
      • 01l0, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Definitely too subtle....if you live in the USA, as the majority of Diggers do, you ALREADY HAVE all of your internet traffic monitored. Even if Japan goes through with the proposal outlined in this article, they will still have MORE internet privacy rights than US citizens do, it is simply a more transparent intrusion.
  • Scopitone, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4Careful, Japan. Lack of pussy makes you crazy. Please see the middle east and most Republicans as proof. Cheers.
  • jekins, on 01/04/2008, -0/+13I am an American living in Japan and have a few things to say on the topic...
    First of all, look at the way things are going in the US right now. From an outsider's perspective, America itself isn't looking very democratic these days with the mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of any non-US Citizens entering the country, or the recent campaign to implement the REAL ID system with RFID tags, or a number of other similarly dystopic movements. Yet, the people within the country, us Americans, remain the freedom-loving people we always were.

    The frightening thing here is that the people of Japan have less knowledge about politics and government than their American counterparts because the mass media is not as liberal as it is in the states. By and large, if it were America this kind of thing would quickly draw the attention of the general public, who would actively fight it; For example, the way Bush and the neo-cons have recently gone to extremes to pull the country to the radical right has evoked a strong enough response in the American public that the population is now safely back in the blue statistically speaking.

    Japan's a different story though... Until recently, the policy in Japan was not to make waves. The general tendency was for conservatism, and so there was never a need to make concerted efforts towards keeping people on that track. The government trusted the people, and the people trusted the government. But now, the government's trust of the people resulted in the natural spreading of disseminating ideas and lifestyles, which displeases and concerns the still-majority (heavily) conservatives. Now they, like Lil' George, are going to start exercising their power on the people. The scary thing here is that, while in America the people are always well-informed of conspiracy and sinister activity because of our uninhibited liberal media, the Japanese government knows they can broadly enact laws and otherwise encourage changes in society with little if any resistance from the people, both because the people won't find out about it in many cases, and because even if they do, they're 5 times more scared of standing up for themselves than Americans. Japanese are very vulnerable... only time will tell.
    • lordmetroid, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Japan has implemented a Mokey see, Monkey do policy as of lately. Collecting fingerprints from all foreign-born people entering and leaving Japan. Now they are censoring. Jeesh when will the world go sane again?
      • arcticblue, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I don't like the fingerprint system they got going on here. I got here one month before that started, but I've heard it's not the smoothest process. There were protests by Japanese and foreigners alike aired on TV. Maybe things are different in mainland Japan, but in Okinawa, I haven't noticed any strong bias in the news.
    • boflaade, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2Americans are the most naive, when it comes to external affairs. Few countries are so ignorant of others. The Iraq invasion was scorned upon because of it. The last several years there are constant reports that reveal what the American government is doing behind Americans back. How many laws have been passed that taken away rights of Americans? Only the few elite know.
  • atgmac, on 01/04/2008, -1/+0Why not just paint a watermark onto the screens of each new computer? Surely that is the more optimal solution.
  • davidkeithjones, on 01/04/2008, -1/+4Government + Internet = bad policy. Let the consumers and creators sort this mess out themselves.
  • UniqPhoeniX, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2This is truly the dummest thing I have read about restricting internet usage. And a government is doing it. ò.Ó
  • Midorita, on 01/05/2008, -1/+3The writer for Ars Technica should have read the link in her own article more carefully/known more about the current situation regarding website/cellphone use by the younger generations in Japan.

    In the past decade, Japan has really struggled with suicide cults and cyberbullying. Sure, there are kids here who won't do their homework and text/IM/game all day, but several thousand people in Japan have become recluses who won't leave their houses or rooms because they’d rather reinvent themselves on the internet than face real world social situations. Couple that with 7.5 million minors who own cell phones with fully functional browsers, angst, bullying, websites that encourage suicidal behavior (and offer people to kill yourself with, people who will kill you, optimal places/ways to kill yourself, etc.), and a terrible mental healthcare system... It's a huge problem. What is being suggested/enforced is a more rigorous parental control-type setting for youth who own cell phones, the creation of standards by an independent body (NOT the government) to make sure content doesn't get out of hand, and bigger consequences for the operators of these websites. It's honestly nothing that the United States doesn't have, and it’s something that I think is appropriate, if not absolutely needed.

    And yes, ultimately, it's not the technology that's causing the problem as much as it is a problem within the culture and the people, but in the meanwhile, there needs to be something done to keep these harmful sites farther away from easily impressionable kids.
  • pig13, on 01/05/2008, -0/+2I really don't think this is going to be as big of a deal as people are making it. Japan has always had strict censorship laws, they're just not enforced. Pornography was censored decades ago, but Japanese pornographers have masterfully found ways around it, and no one really cares.
    As for copyrighted material, look at the Doujin market, which is huge in Japan. Doujin are fan-made comic books which portray popular characters in fan-written story lines, sometimes pornographic. The Doujin industry is breaking numerous copyright laws, but legal action is no longer taken because of the fan backlash that results. In the end there is sort of a stalemate between manga studios and Doujin producers - 'keep buying our comics and we'll look the other way on Doujin'.
    There are many other cases of Japanese laws that are simply ignored by the general public.

    Japan is much different from China in that regard, in China laws are brutally enforced, whereas in Japan, laws are sometimes quietly circumvented to appease the popular public opinion.
  • mathcreative, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1Darn I though Japan would set the example for the U.S..
  • kindpastor, on 01/05/2008, -0/+1pfft, good luck enforcing it.
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