Japan: Major Parties Cooperate to Legislate Regulation of “Harmful” Internet Content · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Japanese bloggers have been making noise the past few days [ja] in reaction to two separate bills, submitted first by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and next by the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), each aiming, in apparently similar ways, to legislate regulation over Internet content deemed to be “harmful” to minors (users under age 18).
On March 19th, LDP Diet Member Takaichi Sanae submitted a bill to a government panel to legislate the “prevention of browsing on the Internet of information harmful to young people” in an attempt to maintain the “sound upbringing of young people”. Shortly thereafter on April 2nd, Diet Member Takai Miho of the Democratic Party submitted a bill with the aim to create an environment that “makes it possible for children to safely use the Internet”. According to bloggers, the bills go significantly further than earlier legislation introduced late last year, which mandated default filtering on mobile phones for minors. Nonetheless, aside from a single article in Asahi shimbun [ja] on the topic, the two bills appear to have been granted no mainstream media attention.
The bills follow on a recent trend of increasing moves toward regulation of the Internet in Japan, but according to bloggers, this time Diet Members Takaichi and Takai are going significantly further — and advancing legislation significantly faster — than in the case of earlier proposals. Blogger Mishima Sakana at Osakana Blog explains:
18歳未満の人たちがインターネット上の「有害情報」に触れないようにする対策を講じる法律案ってのが、3月の中頃から末頃にかけて、姿を現してきた。朝日新聞の記事では少し紹介されているが、それ以外の大手マスコミには全然出てない。っていうか、ペーパーメディアの人間は全然ヤバさを認識してない。あるいは、分かっててトボけている。この法律案、ものすごくヤバい。
He then reviews developments over the past month:
The main concerns, he explains, are the following:
Blogger Ikeda Nobuo has been another forceful critic of Internet regulation by the government. In an entry posted on March 3rd [ja] (referenced above, see also another post in English), he writes:
まず「青少年有害情報」の定義が広範囲に及び、「〜を誘発するもの」とか「〜おそれがあるもの」というように「青少年健全育成推進委員会」の裁量によってどうにでも解釈できる曖昧な表現が多い。
もっとも問題なのは、第9・10条の行政処分と第51条の罰則である。携帯電話では、すでにフィルタリングが業界の自主規制で行なわれており、携帯電話は寡占市場なので、あえて公権力が介入する必要があるとは思われない。逆にインターネットでは、ISPは2000以上あり、そのすべてを監視し、是正命令を出すのは不可能だ。「みせしめ」的に特定のISPが摘発されるおそれが強い。
The articles in the LDP bill to which Ikeda makes reference are the following (taken from the above blog post):
第9条（是正命令）　主務大臣等は、インターネット接続役務提供事業者に対し、是正命令を出すことができる。
第10条（立ち入り検査）　主務大臣等は、インターネット接続役務提供事業者に対し、その営業所に立ち入り、業務の状況又は帳簿、書類その他の物件を検査させることができる。
第51条（罰則）　第9条又は第13条の規定による命令に違反した者は、6月以下の懲役又は百万円以下の罰金に処する。
Many other bloggers are also talking about the proposed regulation. Worried about what will happen to “minority” children who depend on the Internet as a place to connect and get help, blogger essa quips that “you can't protect your children unless you properly choose your politicians” [ja]. In a similar vein, blogger ratio – rational – irrational worries about the classification of “same-sex relationships” as “harmful content” [ja]. At Social Web Rambling, blogger namekawa01 asks [ja] if, with the new regulation bill, politics is returning to a “new 1955 system“. Elsewhere, OhmyNews Japan presents a detailed outline of the LDP bill [ja] through the words of Diet Member Takaichi herself, and CNET offers an overview of both LDP and DPJ bills [ja].