With this, they brought an end to his nine-month spree of destruction. In March 2020, Japanese central bank Sumitomo Mitsui abolished the official dress code,5 While cyberattacks against journalists and activists are rare, private companies have been targeted in previous coverage periods. Authorities have used the law to convict the operators of manga piracy site Mangamura (see C2 and C3). The Act on Prevention of Improper Use of Mobile Phones (2005) requires mobile voice communication carriers to verify the identity of subscribers when a contract was terminated or transferred, in order to prevent a situation in which cell phone subscribers cannot be identified. Security agents and the military were accused of conducting illegal surveillance in cases involving national security in 2003 and 2004.13 Change.org Uh oh. In 2017, the UNs special rapporteur for freedom of expression criticized the kisha club system.3 However, most online media remain small and community based.1 censorship - The Japan Times censorship Asia Pacific Jul 25, 2021 One month since closing of Apple Daily, concern over Hong Kong free press lingers by Caroline Tam Apple Daily's closure and. Users rarely face physical and offline harassment in relation to their online activities. the use of Googles Person Finder web application to facilitate rescue and recovery,2 As 2021 nears its close, a spasm of book banning has spread surprisingly quickly among state and local officials. Censorship of pornography in Japan, be it animated, photographed or filmed, has always been superficial, focusing on blocking out or blurring the sex organs. Does the government place restrictions on anonymous communication or encryption? If a device is successfully hacked, its owner will be advised to strengthen security measures, for instance by making their passwords more complex. Rakuten Mobile partnered with electronics firm NEC to launch 5G services, originally planned for June 2020. In June 2020, the founder of news site Independent Web Journal, Yasumi Iwakami, had his appeal dismissed regarding a fine he was required to pay for allegedly defaming former Osaka prefectural governor, Toru Hashimoto. 2. However, there is some criticism that the ongoing price war has prevented smaller companies from entering the market.4 Acknowledging that "one might think this is simply conjecture by the ACE Economic Research Center," Yasuda then cited five specific Western-oriented changes he believed were instrumental in contributing to the brand's slow march towards self-destruction: 1. Abe was . In contrast, when private individuals or groups organize boycotts against stores that sell magazines of which they disapprove, their actions are protected by the First Amendment, although they can become dangerous in the extreme. The Hungarian winner of the MTV EMA Generation Change Award says an anti-LGBTQ law passed in June is enticing 'fear and censorship.' Hungarian MTV Award Winner on Life Under Country's LGBTQ Law . Access is well distributed across the population, though access is less common among the elderly.4 Sharp regional cost disparities exist; service was more expensive in Japans major cities in 2020, with customers paying an average of 3,835 ($36.89) per month. The future of an independent NHK is crucial given the increasing demand for impartial, objective and trusted sources of information. I don't know a whole lot about japanese censorship stuff, I know Sony itself likes to censor though. LINE reported that 80 percent of the global law enforcement requests for user data that it received between July and December 2020 came from Japanese entities. The book also examines the conflict between the obscenity law, introduced in Meiji times when Japan was importing Western models, and the freedom of speech law, which was put in place by the US occupation administration after World War II. In May 2021, the Diet enacted the Digital Reform Bill, which streamlines how officials in Japan handle and share data and revises how personal data is protected under the law. Censorship has followed the free expression of men and women like a shadow throughout history. In May 2020, MICs minister Takaichi Sanae, voiced her interest in amending the Provider Liability Limitation Law.3 Osakas ordinance authorized the public identification of groups that disseminate hate speech, defined as communication which defames and aims to exclude a particular group based on race or ethnicity, including through online transmission, according to news reports.16 Some municipal governments have also introduced local ordinances on hate speech, including the government of Osaka in 2016. In February 2020, the Defense Ministry reported that some sensitive information may have been leaked as the result of the Mitsubishi breach.8 No major foreign operators have successfully penetrated the telecommunications market independently. There are concerns that disclosure requests will be misused as a means to suppress the transmission of information.4. In April 2021, a bill was unanimously passed and enacted in the Diet which amends the Provider Liability Limitation Act to make it easier to identify users who allegedly slander people on the internet. the change was expected to allow tourists who were supposed to visit Japan during the 2020 Summer Olympics to more easily access mobile services.10. A new law makes "online insults" punishable with jail time! In one significant cyberattack against civil society organizations, at least 33 antinuclear citizens groups were targeted in 2013.5 10 These distinctions, however, are not perfect. In 2021, authorities fined Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Google, TikTok, and other internet companies a total of at least 187 million RUB (US$2.5 million) over failures to take down supposedly. Kisha clubs and an advertising market that favors established players may be preventing digital media from gaining a stronger foothold in the market. The amendments expanded the scope of personal data and eliminated restrictions on the laws extraterritorial applications. Amid rising concerns over misinformation online - including surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, especially vaccines - Americans are now a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online.And a majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking such action, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. In June 2020, the Tokyo High Court reversed a Tokyo District Court ruling that Twitter remove posts which detailed the plaintiffs arrest records.14, Courts have also ordered content to be removed in defamation cases, although there were no such rulings during the coverage period. During Diet sessions, when questions were raised as to whether the Ministry of Defense and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office were intercepting phone calls and e-mails, the government declined to answer.12. GR No. The censorship directives are the latest sign of how thoroughly Hong Kong is being reshaped by Beijing's security law, which took aim at the city's pro-democracy protest movement but has had . In 2002, industry associations produced guidelines designed to protect ISPs from legal liability within the jurisdiction of the Japanese courts. Observers argue that the industry has generally improved since the MIC was established in 2001, which resulted from the merger of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and the governments Management and Coordination Agency.1, Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) supported by the relevant companies in these three sectors perform a self-regulatory function. Chinese groups BlackTech and Tick were reportedly behind the breaches.7 In January 2021, the revised Copyright Act, which criminalizes the downloading of unlicensed manga, magazines, and academic publications, took effect. Does state surveillance of internet activities infringe on users right to privacy? However, some digital activities require separate registration. Are there laws that assign criminal penalties or civil liability for online activities, particularly those that are protected under international human rights standards? The brothers father is from West Africa. Japans telecommunications infrastructure is advanced, and there have been no reports of the government deliberately disconnecting telecommunications service. You can try refreshing the page, and if you're still having problems, just try again later. The Imperial Throne shall be dynastic and succeeded to in accordance with the Imperial House Law passed by the Diet. The reporting claimed that the government deployed a clandestine online surveillance program, dubbed MALLARD, to observe communications passing between satellites.16 For ISPs to block particular websites, they must monitor their customers' online activity to determine whether they are accessing the sites in question, which could violate the constitutional right to secrecy of communications.1 Amendments passed by the Diet in 2015 defined personal information in more specific terms as biometric information and numeric data that is capable of identifying a specific individual.5 Facebook has suppressed content posted by Palestinians and their supporters speaking out about human rights issues in Israel and Palestine. Japan is primarily a civil law country, and the United States is primarily a common law country. Do the constitution or other laws fail to protect rights such as freedom of expression, access to information, and press freedom, including on the internet, and are they enforced by a judiciary that lacks independence? Government statistics show that the average cost of internet access for households with two or more people across Japan in 2020 was 3,601 ($34.59) compared with 3,753 ($36.05) in 2017.2 In response, hashtags such as Tokyo Shimbun reporter restricted from asking questions, toward a country where we can freely ask questions, and we have the right to know trended on Twitter.9 However, the ordinance did stipulate that the city would take measures to prevent the spread of hate on the internet.17 Individuals and public figures who break this social convention risk censure and even attacks from right-wing extremists, who notoriously attempted to assassinate the mayor of Nagasaki on these grounds in 1990. The court indicated that points such as the content of the search results, the scope of disclosure, the social status of the persons involved, the social situation, and the necessity of disclosing facts were critical in deciding whether search engine results should be removed.13 Do infrastructural limitations restrict access to the internet or the speed and quality of internet connections? Heightened awareness of nonconsensual sharing of intimate images and online harassment culminated in the adoption of a law criminalizing such activity in 2014. March 23, 2021, 2:30 PM Japan granted asylum to less than 1 percent of refugees and asylum-seekers who applied in 2019, despite having the third-largest economy in the world. In June 2020, the Tokyo High Court reversed a lower court ruling that Twitter must remove posts which detailed the plaintiffs arrest records (see B3). The Agency for Cultural Affairs has jurisdiction over copyright law and provides guidance and supervision to copyright management organizations, including JASRAC. Offenders can face prison sentences of up to three years or fines as large as 500,000 ($4,534), and third-party distribution can draw up to a years imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 ($2,720).14 Analysis of about half a million sample tweets posted before and after Japan's 2014 general election revealed that most posts were near-duplicates or retweets of those posted by bots, including many that disseminated nationalist or progovernment messages.3 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank all launched commercial fifth-generation (5G) services in March 2020.3 In February of that year, the Cabinet Office reportedly sent a letter demanding that the reporter be restricted from asking questions at press events. It can be done by various methods and for a range of justifications. Although that years guidelines from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) garnered criticism, they helped address concerns that the cost of switching providers favored dominant players and created a barrier for new market entrants.8 The 2001 Provider Liability Limitation Act directed ISPs to establish a self-regulatory framework to govern takedown requests involving illegal or objectionable content, defamation, privacy violations, and copyright infringement.9 Due to Tokuras previous position and his lobbying efforts on behalf of JASRAC, his appointment sparked concerns about his ability to balance protecting the rights of artists and creators while also ensuring the freedom of individuals who use copyrighted works.8. Some of those arrested were fined 100,000 ($906).5 Japan's laws on censorship have become a more frequent topic of discussion among anime fans in the past few months. Individuals can be sentenced to up to three years in prison or fines of up to 500,000 ($4,534). In May 2021, Aren Hachimura, the younger brother of NBA basketball player Rui Hachimura, received racist messages over SNS. Implementation guidelines for the law described four main fields of state secretsdefense, diplomacy, counterintelligence, and counterterrorismwhich are further divided into 55 categories.2, Other laws prescribe potentially disproportionate penalties for online activity. COVID-19 patients and individuals who allegedly tested positive for the virus also faced harassment on social media.2. Art censorship in Hong Kong is "very much real," an expert said after the city's much-anticipated art gallery opened recently without showcasing some expected artworks by a Chinese dissident. They include televisions Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization and the Internet Content Safety Association, which manages the blocking of child sexual abuse images online.2 Many experts have indicated their concern about ambiguous components of the law that could be abused. The group essentially serves as an online public relations effort for the LDP, though its rules make clear that members are responsible for their own social media posts. Connectivity for households in the heavily populated Kant region, which includes Tokyo, costs nearly 1,300 ($12.49) more per month than in the least expensive regions, Tohokuin the northeast.3 However, the LDP ultimately decided not to submit a bill on LGBT+ equality due to strong opposition by some conservative lawmakers.8, In early 2019, users rallied behind a Tokyo Shimbun reporter who was targeted by the government. The original case was brought after a 2010 leak of police documents revealed that Muslims were subject to widespread monitoring for possible terrorist activity. The J-NSC remained active during the coverage period.2. Under the law, all online dating services must register with the police, verify their customers ages with a drivers license or credit card, and delete or block content that appears to involve someone under 18; most services voluntarily monitor messages in real time to ensure compliance. It criminalized planning to commit a series of newly designated serious crimes that could supposedly fund terrorism, including copyright violations, potentially making more suspects subject to wiretaps. Historically, Japans internet connections were forged through cooperation among government agencies (including then government-owned NTT), universities, and national research institutions.2. Outstanding challenges include ethnic and gender-based discrimination and claims of improperly close relations between government and the business sector. The law obliges agents to notify targets of wiretaps after investigations are concluded and inform the Diet about the number they implement annually. There are some reasons why it has been not modified since . Under the amended law, overseas companies are also obligated to notify the government of data breaches that involve sensitive information, cause financial injury, or affect more than 1,000 users. Under the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, intentional leaks can draw penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment, while unintentional leaks can be punished with up to two years in prison. Asymmetric regulation, which creates stricter rules for providers with a higher market share, has helped diversify the industry.6, Beginning in 2014, the government required mobile service providers to unlock SIM cards at user request; this has made it easier for users to switch providers and use third-party prepaid SIM cards.7 The government has also invested heavily in Wi-Fi networks in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were postponed and held in August 2021.5 Authorities typically do not order service providers to block or filter content in Japan. Glad to see Japanese publishers standing up to Western companies. With the space for such advocacy under threat in many . In May 2019, it was revealed that the national government and Fukushima Prefecture paid over 24 billion ($217 million) to an advertising agency to manage public relations, including in online outlets, after the disaster.6. There are still limits on paid online advertising and campaign emails, which can only be sent directly by a party or candidatenot a supporterin a measure designed to prevent fraud.8 Some observers said this was an attempt to control public discourse, though deletions were not widespread. Does the state block or filter, or compel service providers to block or filter, internet content, particularly material that is protected by international human rights standards? But in the eyes of . Some companies offer free Wi-Fi, including the private company Wire and Wireless (Wi2), part of the KDDI group, which provides free internet access in restaurants, coffee shops, and train stations; registration requires an email address.6 In other words, even after the new law goes into effect, a . In recent years, content removals have focused on hate speech and illegal content, including child sexual abuse images and intimate images shared without the subjects consent. 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