Japan attended this international convention to deal with the issues of crime in cyber-space. The Council of Europe was under final deliberation in 2001 for procedures that would be ratified and enacted immediately to effectively regulate the Internet. For the Convention, Japan participated as an observer in the discussions. Although there has been a sincere effort to legally regulate the Internet in Japan, it is imperative that Japan starts taking concrete measures for domestic laws and regulations by the beginning of 2002. The types of crimes committed on the Internet can be divided into three categories:
Presently, several measures have been taken legally and morally to cope with each category so far. For example for the first category, the law called ‘Law on the Prevention of Illegal Access’ has been enacted. This regulation imposes penalties for such actions as an invasion into computers (programs and networks) of others or impersonating another person such as using his passwords without permission. The ‘Wire-Tapping Law’ can be regarded as one of the measures of this category.
The ‘Law on the Prohibition of Child Pornography’ contributes to the elimination of obscene expressions on the net that appear harmful to children. As for the crimes committed under the category of defamation of character or privacy, other legal regulations have been enforced to address these problems.
However, the present legal system has many problems left behind for the authorities. There are bills in place to resolve these problems, such as the ‘Draft Convention on Cyber-Crime’. This bill's strengths and weakness are under examination. The following is a brief introduction to this bill and points that might cause problems.
First, the ‘Draft Convention on Cyber-Crime’ consists of substantive provisions about computer-related crimes mentioned earlier and procedural provisions as regulations. The main contexts of the latter sections are preservation of data, demand for an offender to submit data, interception of traffic data (e.g. temporary memory data), interception of content data, etc. The distinctive character of it, is that it applies to a wide-range of computer-related offences (it is not limited to terrorism). In addition, it is dangerous because of the unlimited extent to which this could be used during a criminal investigation. There is also the great possibility that it might violate freedom of expression, for it prohibits mere possession of child pornography. Another concern is terrorism, whether is it done on the Internet or via violence against a nation. It is regarded as an urgent priority for the Government to take legislative measures against terrorism, especially since the recent terrorist act on American soil. One can predict that the policies created at the Convention on Cyber-Crime would be applied to the domestic legislation in Japan. For the dangers of disclosure of money transactions as well as the interception of electronic mail are threats. These issues should be raised and appropriate laws enacted to prohibit such actions.
At the moment there are several bills concerning the freedom of expression that are laid before the Diet and/or are on the final stages of discussion. The JCLU supported alternative plans regarding these bills after detailed research was done and they have been made public. The JCLU also hosted an open discussion about the possible invasion of freedom of expression that could occur if these bills are passed. The JCLU feels that it is imperative to contribute suggestions on the 21st Century model of Freedom of Expression and criminal procedures on the whole.
Editor's Note: The Convention on Cyber-Crime has been opened for signature in November 2002 and Japan signed it immediately. With five ratifications the Convention will be enacted. For its ratification Japan will need some amendment of domestic laws, but at the time of this note there are no amendments proposed to the Diet yet.
As for the ‘Law on the Prohibition of Child Pornography’, the law stipulates that after three years from its enactment the government shall review its implementation status and take any necessary measures to modify it. In accordance with this provision, the government reportedly started its review including the amendment proposal that may prohibit even ‘virtual pornography’. The aforementioned provision also says that the government shall take into consideration international trends on the protection of children's rights. There was a major change in the international scene over the past three years regarding children's rights. Japan signed two international treaties on this issue that urged states to prohibit child pornography. Treaties are the ‘Convention on Cyber-Crime’ and the ‘Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography’.