Japan Makes Private Copying Illegal

from the wrong-direction dept

Plenty of countries have reasonably pointed out that the entire point behind copyright laws was to protect again commercial for-profit copying -- and thus, private, non-commercial personal use copying really shouldn't be covered by copyright laws. Of course, for an entertainment industry hell-bent on filing lawsuits against people rather than adapting to the marketplace, this is a serious, serious problem. So, the recording industry has been lobbying hard in any country that carves out an exception for private copying, trying to make it illegal. Unfortunately, it appears they've won in Japan. A new copyright law has been passed that specifically says that private, non-commercial copying is infringing (via Cybeardjm). This really isn't all that surprising, given that Japan has also been pushed on copyright extension and a recent court ruling found that uploading your own content for personal storage could be infringement. Still, it's yet another victory for entertainment industry lobbyists who will do anything possible to pass laws to protect old business models.

Filed Under: copyright, japan, private copying

Japan, Greece The Latest To Join The Anti-Street View Party

from the jump-on-the-bandwagon dept

Lots of people around the world have worked themselves into a lather over the supposed privacy invasions of Google Street View, as well as the security threat they say it creates. These fears are largely unfounded, since Street View displays images of public spaces, and since it really doesn't give would-be criminals information they couldn't easily find elsewhere; and most courts and governments have agreed. Still, the Street View backlash continues to spread, with groups in Japan and Greece the latest to take exception to it. Officials in Greece have forced Google to stop the project there until it provides more details on how long it will store photos and how it will protect people's privacy. In Japan, Google is being forced to re-shoot photos in a dozen cities because its car-mounted cameras were too high. It will lower its cameras there by 16 inches so they can't see over fences around people's homes. That's a nice gesture from Google, but will Japan also ban multi-story buildings that let people see over fences? Will ladders and scaffolding be next?

Filed Under: greece, japan, privacy, street view

Japanese Game Developer Thrilled That Fans Are Translating His Works For Other Markets

from the thank-you-for-loving-my-game-so-much dept

Richard 23 writes "07th Expansion is a dojin (amateur/hobbyist) software company in Japan that wrote and distributed the popular mystery/horror visual novel Higurashi naku no koro ni (When the Cicadas Cry) that went on to be a popular anime (originally fansubbed and eventually licensed and distributed). They have since released a new game, Umineko naku no koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry) which is currently being fan translated. The author of the game, Ryuukishi07, heard about it and contacted the unofficial group to personally give them a thumbs up.

Ryuukishi07 has also been contracted to work on scenarios for one of the big visual novel software houses: Key/VisualArt's, so he could have been a real jerk about it. But I think he recognizes that getting his work more exposure does everybody more good in the long run. It certainly didn't hurt his chances to land a professional gig with Key."

Always nice to see someone excited about free fan promotion, rather than freaking out about it. From his (translated) letter:

I did not think that our "Umineko no Naku Koro ni" would be played even by all of you in foreign countries, and I am very surprised.

Also, I am deeply moved by the passion which drove you to translate a tale that long into English.

Thank you for loving "Umineko no Naku Koro ni" so much!

If by your English translation patch, English-speaking people can also enjoy this work, it would make me very pleased.

I believe I will warmly watch over your actions hereafter.
And I would appreciate it if you would continue to enjoy "Umineko no Naku Koro ni".

Great to see someone appreciate the work of fans and their ability to help spread and promote the work, rather than freak out and threaten to sue.

Filed Under: game, japan, translation, unauthorized

Japanese Group Asks Google To Shut Down Street View

from the public-is-private dept

Apparently a Japanese civilian group, The Campaign Against Surveillance Society, is asking Google to shut down its Street View offering. This is hardly the first time that people have complained about Street View, but, honestly, it's difficult to see how this is a "surveillance" issue or a violation of anyone's privacy. Google is taking photos of public spaces that anyone is free to look at. It's not doing it in real-time or anything. It's just a still photo of a public place that anyone with a camera could take. I can understand people's concerns about growing surveillance or loss of privacy, but efforts to combat those things should focus on areas where there are real threats to privacy -- not a useful service like Google Street View.

Filed Under: google maps, japan, privacy, street view
Companies: google

Nokia Reportedly Looking To Start Its Own MVNO In Japan

from the so-many-people-think-nokia-is-japanese-anyway... dept

A local report says that Nokia is considering setting up an MVNO in Japan, focused on its high-end Vertu line of handsets. Nokia has a small presence in Japan, making it one place -- along with the US -- where its market share lags badly behind its 40 percent or so global share. It would be surprising to see Nokia make a big move into becoming a virtual operator in any market, given that it sells most of its handsets through operators, and wouldn't want to jeopardize those relationships in any way. However, for its Vertu line, it could be a useful model. Vertu devices aren't your typical mobile phone: they cost upwards of several thousand dollars, and often don't include features common on much cheaper devices. They eschew many technical features in favor of expensive build materials and a concierge service for its deep-pocketed customers. Vertu handsets aren't going to be sold by or subsidized by operators, so Nokia could benefit by bundling service with the device as a virtual operator, making the Vertu brand the only one that has any contact with the customer. Given the small number of devices it sells, operators aren't likely to mind too much. But if Nokia made a bigger grab for the mass market, they'd certainly take exception.

Filed Under: japan, mvno, vertu
Companies: nokia

Imagine If Political Campaigns Couldn't Use The Web... Or Just Look At Japan

from the no-communicating-please dept

While there have been plenty of news stories about how the various political campaigns in the US have been using the internet to get out the vote, Newsweek has a fascinating story about how Japanese election law pretty much bans all use of the internet in campaigning. Once a political campaign is announced, that candidate can't update his website or blog. The only loophole is podcasts (the law doesn't cover audio), but that's hardly enough to make much of a dent. As the article notes, this has helped keep younger, more technically savvy politicians from succeeding when they run for office -- and that's part of the reason why older politicians are perfectly happy with the system the way it exists. It sounds like some are pushing for change, while others are actively defying the ban, but it's apparently quite a different online atmosphere during election season in Japan than elsewhere.

Filed Under: communications, free speech, internet, japan, politics

That Was Fast: Woman Arrested For Virtual Murder Of Virtual Husband

from the fantastic dept

Earlier this week, in writing about some kids convicted of theft in the real world, I jokingly asked if we'd soon hear of someone arrested for "murder" for killing a virtual character. Who knew it would happen so fast? Okay, actually, it's not that extreme, but a woman in Japan has been arrested (in real life) for "killing" the avatar of her virtual husband, who had apparently "virtually" divorced her. The charges are not for murder (phew), but illegally accessing his computer. She basically logged in to his account and killed off the character. Of course, you might argue that she didn't do anything illegal, since the guy had given her his password in "happier times" and hadn't changed it. Also, again, this certainly seems like the sort of thing that could (and should) have been taken care of directly in the world. The folks who run the world could easily revive the guy, and kick the woman out of the world. Case closed.

Filed Under: japan, laws, murder, virtual worlds

Once Again: People Just Aren't That Interested In Mobile TV

from the no,-really,-we-swear dept

For years and years we've wondered why various companies were spending billions on building mobile TV systems that simply mimic traditional broadcast TV to mobile phones. In an age of time shifting and place shifting there's little reason for a mobile broadcast TV system that's separate from your other ways of accessing television. People don't want to have to buy into a whole different (expensive) mobile subscription service when they already have a cable subscription at home which they can save via their TiVo. And, if they really want to access it on the go, they can just pick up a Slingbox and not have to pay for an entirely separate subscription. But that hasn't stopped billions from being poured into various mobile TV systems, even though pretty much every test shows very little interest in paying for mobile TV.

Of course, sometimes when we talk about this, people tell us that the experiences in Asia -- specifically Korea and Japan -- show that there really is a market for fee-based mobile broadcast TV. Turns out that's not true. A new study in Korea points out that the highly touted mobile broadcast system there gets very, very little usage. In the meantime, Toshiba is backing off plans to offer a fee-based mobile TV subscription service in Japan. So much for those "success" stories.

What's really stunning about this is that it wasn't hard to predict that this would happen years ago, before billions were wasted on such systems. None of this means that video alone isn't an interesting space in the mobile market, but it has to be allowing users to access what video they want -- not taking us back in time to an old live broadcast system, and adding yet another subscription fee for the privilege.

Filed Under: japan, korea, mobile tv

Japanese Gov't Says No (Again) To An iPod Tax

from the how-many-times? dept

Back in 2005, the recording industry in Japan urged the government to create an iPod tax, adding a tax to every iPod (or other digital music player) sold. The idea was that the recording industry wanted to assume that every iPod owner was obviously "stealing" music, and this tax would help pay for the supposedly "lost" revenue. Of course, as we all know, that's a very questionable assumption. An iPod can often make people buy more music, but the recording industry has never been willing to even consider that idea. Luckily, a few months later, the Japanese government rejected the idea.

However, with the recording industry, these things always seem to have a way of popping back up again. And, indeed, there's been another big push this year for Japan to add an iPod tax. Luckily, however, the consumer electronics lobby in Japan is a lot more powerful than the recording industry lobby, and it appears that the iPod tax proposal is dead once again. Of course, it will likely be suggested again next year, but as we start to see more and more business models built on a base of free music, perhaps more people will recognize how unfair (and damaging to the market) an iPod tax would be. It would lower the incentives for people to buy these devices, decrease music consumption habits, and hurt all these other business models.

Filed Under: ipod tax, japan, levy

Japanese ISPs Decide That Criminal Confessions Should Be Blocked Online

from the common-sense-is-dead dept

With various governments pushing for laws that require ISPs to block "objectionable" content, it's not hard to come up with scenarios where that will backfire. Of course, who needs to come up with fictional scenarios when reality will serve up examples on its own. Over in Japan, some mentally disturbed individual used the web to detail how he planned to stab a bunch of people. After he carried out the stabbings, rather than focusing on how such sites can be useful in stopping homicidal maniacs before they kill, the Japanese are focusing on figuring out how they can block such content as "objectionable" so that people can't see it. Is common sense dead? How could it possibly make sense to try to hide the fact that someone is confessing to the crimes they plan to commit before they commit them?

Filed Under: blocked, japan, objectionable content, stabbing