Japan Internet headed for the Dark Ages?
The Japanese government is charging ahead with legislation that could end up putting the Internet here under direct government control. A government panel is proposing that “influential, widely read news-related sites” be governed under the same rules that are applied to newspapers and broadcasting. Rules are to be enforced by making Internet service providers liable for the content that passes through there computers onto the Net.
The conservative government, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, is seeking to have the new laws passed by Parliament in 2010.
“Japan’s Internet is increasing its clout, so naturally the government wants to control it,” said Kazuo Hizumi, a former journalist who is the Tokyo city lawyer.
The Japanese government denies they are trying to implement a system censorship on the Internet.
“The criticism that the report amounts to a call for censoring the Japanese Web” is completely unfounded, the Communications Ministry said in a statement. “Furthermore, the report takes the position that Japan should abstain from adopting regulations aimed at promoting government censorship or restriction of Internet content, such as blogs, and calls for examining the creation of a framework for promoting voluntary action by ISP and others as a means of dealing with illegal and harmful material.”
I am sure that everyone has, at one time or another, has felt that “something should be done” to stop some of the more egregious abuses being promulgated on the net. But as Alex Kerr likes to point out, the thing that the Japanese ship of state seems to be lacking are brakes, and once it starts heading in a particular direction there is little hope of ever stopping it.
Will bloggers in Japan rise up and beat back the government’s curtailment on their freedom of speech? Don’t bet on it. . .
“I’m afraid ordinary citizens don’t care about these lack of rights, consequently the Internet in Japan is heading for the Dark Ages,” Hizumi said.
At this rate, it won’t be long before Japan slips well behind China. May make a nice Chinese holiday resort someday…
February 29th, 2008 at 8:52 amthink the upper house will shoot it down?
March 1st, 2008 at 12:32 amThe lack of opposition isn’t surprising. Ordinary Japanese are remarkably detached from politics and have been for a long time. So long as they have their celebrity focused variety and food TV shows plus access to brand name items, they’re happy to play the fiddle as Tokyo burns and their rights are eroded. Look at the “rebels” of Japan (freeters and NEETs), they drop out of the system rather than trying to change/reform it. Given the rise of TMZ and the cult of Paris Hilton/Britney Spears, I wonder if the US isn’t heading the same way.
The LDP and bureaucrats going after the wild and woolly internet in Japan shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s a natural progression now that the old fogies have started to notice it. Got to keep those masses docile and muzzled (not that the masses seem very interested in speaking or changing the system)!
Read the full article and learned something new. I didn’t realize that DoCoMo was censoring things. Censoring politics seems particularly shady. Anyone have further info on this?
March 1st, 2008 at 12:57 amDoes that give those of you who live in Japan some reservations about staying forever?
March 1st, 2008 at 6:47 amMarie, you’ll find that after a certain age, we stop thinking of anything as being forever.
And, as for the gist of the question, it’s always a balancing act, weighing pros and cons. Obviously, this is a con. If it makes business or life impossible, it will be a tipping point (which is why I hope it won’t pass - it’s very anti-business)
March 1st, 2008 at 7:55 amI used to want to live in Japan until I realized that I can think of a lot more things I hate about it than things I like about it. This is just another for the list.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:44 pmThanks for the insight, Ghoti. Sounds wise.
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:42 amRTN: The article is a bit misleading with respect to the DoCoMo filtering. It actually only applies to underage users (under age 18) and can be turned off if the mobile-owner’s parents explicitly request it. See more info in this JT article and this gyaku article. The actual page where you can see the categories of blocked content can be found here (in Japanese). If gov’t sources can be trusted, then it also seems that there is considerable support for filtering in general among Japanese citizens.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:45 pmThanks for the info! I find it ironic that they’re trying to protect them from the dating/prostitution sites (and what the 76% supported in that survey) when the under 18 folks don’t join those sites by mistake (which is all that filtering would really prevent), but intentionally. If they want to join, there will always be ways around the filtering.
I also see they’re willing to block sites related to gays and religion.
The only reason I see to filter politics is to prevent students from organizing or supporting groups that the LDP and bureaucrats don’t like. Shouldn’t you want your young people getting involved in political matters and showing interest in them at a young age?!
Using dating sites to gain support for this sort of thing seems a classic bait and switch tactic. Claim it does only what people want done (blocking dating/prostitution sites), but use it to do much much more.
Given the high percentage of people with advanced cell phones, plenty of PCs and blazing fast (and cheap) internet, Japan has had a very free flowing internet. It seems that the powers-that-be are now frightened by this and cracking down on it. I worry that they’re trying to make it as docile and toothless as the mass media.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm