Today these countries censor the Internet : China, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Ethiopia, Iran, India, Korea, Morocco, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Sudan, Thailand, Turkey, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.
The Japanese government is also planning to legislate regulations of ‘harmful’ Internet content. Now, the Liberal Democratic Party’s Sanae Takaichi is preparing to an Internet censorship law. We can see clearly how the government is preparing the public for such a law. When governments want to pass some laws which strip away basic freedoms, they have to find stories to make the public frightened. If the public are frightened, the government can say "We need to take away some fo your rights to protect you."
The recent stories in the news about "encounter" websites (出会い系) and Japanese people learning how to grow marijuana from the internet quote the NPA (National Police Agency http://www.npa.go.jp/ ) as blaming the internet. I fully believe this is the beginning of an assault against the freedom of speech and exchange of information on the internet. This will allow the government to filter information out of the public eye in Japan. I cannot expres to you how dangerous I believe this is. If you think I am overreacting, I ask you to please look at the list of countries I posted above. Japan will join that list in less than two years.
The Japanese government is also planning to legislate regulations of ‘harmful’ Internet content. Now, the Liberal Democratic Party’s Sanae Takaichi is preparing to an Internet censorship law. We can see clearly how the government is preparing the public for such a law. When governments want to pass some laws which strip away basic freedoms, they have to find stories to make the public frightened. If the public are frightened, the government can say "We need to take away some fo your rights to protect you."
The recent stories in the news about "encounter" websites (出会い系) and Japanese people learning how to grow marijuana from the internet quote the NPA (National Police Agency http://www.npa.go.jp/ ) as blaming the internet. I fully believe this is the beginning of an assault against the freedom of speech and exchange of information on the internet. This will allow the government to filter information out of the public eye in Japan. I cannot expres to you how dangerous I believe this is. If you think I am overreacting, I ask you to please look at the list of countries I posted above. Japan will join that list in less than two years.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to stop this?
I have included 2 articles in which the NPA blame the internet for problems which they obviously cannot control. The NPA need to deflect the blame away from their own terrible policework.
Jus
Internet profile sites become hotbed of child sex crime, NPA reports
Thursday 19th February, 10:26 AM JST
TOKYO —
Internet profile sites, a type of social networking, have become a more dangerous source of sex-related crime for children than dating websites, the National Police Agency said Thursday in a survey. In 2008, 792 children under 18 became victims of sex-related crimes such as pornography and prostitution as a result of using profile sites. The figure surpassed 724 children who became sex-crime victims after accessing Net dating sites, the agency said.The latest NPA survey, for the first time, looked at profile sites and other social networking sites in terms of the possibility of their use for illegal sex services.NPA officials judged that criminals have been shifting their focus from dating sites to social networking sites in search of potential sex-crime victims as authorities have significantly restricted the business of dating-site operators.The NPA said it will ask operators of profile and other social networking websites to delete messages suggesting illegal sex services.In the reporting year, sex-related crime cases involving children under 18 using these sites on the Internet totaled 994, the NPA said. The number of obscenity cases came to 648 cases involving 545 victims, child prostitution and pornography 299 cases involving 204 victims, rapes 17 cases involving 15 victims and attempt murders two cases involving two victims.The number of people who became crime victims after using dating sites, including those aged 18 or older, came to 852 in 2008, down by 445 from the preceding year.The figure included 328 senior high school students, 211 junior high school students and two elementary school students. Of those under 18, 714 people, or 98.6%, accessed dating sites via cell phones, the NPA said.
Crimes linked to cannabis, marijuana spreading in Japan
Friday 20th February, 06:24 AM JST
TOKYO —
Sumo wrestlers, actors and college students caught for marijuana possession are apparently proving to be just the tip of the iceberg as police authorities say the number of cannabis-related crimes has risen to record levels in Japan. A National Police Agency report made available Thursday showed police departments across the country handled 3,832 cannabis-related cases involving 2,778 offenders last year, both all-time highs since the NPA began tracking records in 1956.The figure for total cases marked a 16.8% increase from the previous year, with the number of offenders rising 22.3%. There were 2,374 first-timers, accounting for 85.5% of the total offenders and posting a 20.6% year-on-year increase. As for breakdowns in age groups, the combined number of offenders in their teens and 20s went up to 1,736, or 62.5% of the total and a 10.6% rise.
The agency says a main factor in the increase appears to be numerous Internet websites that provide information officials say helps facilitate illegal acts related to marijuana, including how to grow it, indoors or outdoors, and produce it.Acquiring seeds of the plant over the Internet is relatively easy and seed trades are not illegal under current Japanese laws, making it possible for seed sellers to ward off a police search as long as they post a description noting that growing cannabis is illegal.Authorities have belatedly launched countermeasures against such deals and their efforts led to the arrest last year of a group who had engaged in Internet seed sales and delivery on charges of helping to grow cannabis.‘‘There has obviously been an increasing number of occasions in which people get cannabis seeds or learn how to grow it,’’ an NPA official said. ‘‘And there’s misunderstanding among them about the toxicity (of cannabis and marijuana). Probably that’s part of the reason they tried to get into it very easily.’’
Internet profile sites become hotbed of child sex crime, NPA reports
Thursday 19th February, 10:26 AM JST
TOKYO —
Internet profile sites, a type of social networking, have become a more dangerous source of sex-related crime for children than dating websites, the National Police Agency said Thursday in a survey. In 2008, 792 children under 18 became victims of sex-related crimes such as pornography and prostitution as a result of using profile sites. The figure surpassed 724 children who became sex-crime victims after accessing Net dating sites, the agency said.The latest NPA survey, for the first time, looked at profile sites and other social networking sites in terms of the possibility of their use for illegal sex services.NPA officials judged that criminals have been shifting their focus from dating sites to social networking sites in search of potential sex-crime victims as authorities have significantly restricted the business of dating-site operators.The NPA said it will ask operators of profile and other social networking websites to delete messages suggesting illegal sex services.In the reporting year, sex-related crime cases involving children under 18 using these sites on the Internet totaled 994, the NPA said. The number of obscenity cases came to 648 cases involving 545 victims, child prostitution and pornography 299 cases involving 204 victims, rapes 17 cases involving 15 victims and attempt murders two cases involving two victims.The number of people who became crime victims after using dating sites, including those aged 18 or older, came to 852 in 2008, down by 445 from the preceding year.The figure included 328 senior high school students, 211 junior high school students and two elementary school students. Of those under 18, 714 people, or 98.6%, accessed dating sites via cell phones, the NPA said.
Crimes linked to cannabis, marijuana spreading in Japan
Friday 20th February, 06:24 AM JST
TOKYO —
Sumo wrestlers, actors and college students caught for marijuana possession are apparently proving to be just the tip of the iceberg as police authorities say the number of cannabis-related crimes has risen to record levels in Japan. A National Police Agency report made available Thursday showed police departments across the country handled 3,832 cannabis-related cases involving 2,778 offenders last year, both all-time highs since the NPA began tracking records in 1956.The figure for total cases marked a 16.8% increase from the previous year, with the number of offenders rising 22.3%. There were 2,374 first-timers, accounting for 85.5% of the total offenders and posting a 20.6% year-on-year increase. As for breakdowns in age groups, the combined number of offenders in their teens and 20s went up to 1,736, or 62.5% of the total and a 10.6% rise.
The agency says a main factor in the increase appears to be numerous Internet websites that provide information officials say helps facilitate illegal acts related to marijuana, including how to grow it, indoors or outdoors, and produce it.Acquiring seeds of the plant over the Internet is relatively easy and seed trades are not illegal under current Japanese laws, making it possible for seed sellers to ward off a police search as long as they post a description noting that growing cannabis is illegal.Authorities have belatedly launched countermeasures against such deals and their efforts led to the arrest last year of a group who had engaged in Internet seed sales and delivery on charges of helping to grow cannabis.‘‘There has obviously been an increasing number of occasions in which people get cannabis seeds or learn how to grow it,’’ an NPA official said. ‘‘And there’s misunderstanding among them about the toxicity (of cannabis and marijuana). Probably that’s part of the reason they tried to get into it very easily.’’
