#GoodMove- Japan makes 'online insults' punishable in wake of reality TV star's death

-

 image

Parliament in apan passed a law on Monday to imprison "online insults." 

 A national criminal law amendment that goes into effect later this summer could impose up to a year's imprisonment or  a fine of up to 300,000 yen (about $ 2,200) for criminals convicted of online insults. 

 This is significantly higher than the existing penalties for detention for less than 30 days and fines of up to JPY 10,000 (US $ 75). The 4,444 bill was controversial at home, arguing that opposition could hinder free speech and criticism of those in power. But advocates said stricter legislation was needed to tackle cyberbullying and online harassment. 

 Only passed after adding a clause ordering the law to be reviewed three years after its entry into force to assess its impact on freedom of speech. According to a Ministry of Justice spokesman, insults are defined in Japanese criminal law as publicly degrading a person's social status, regardless of certain facts  or actions. Crime, unlike defamation, is  defined as publicly humiliating a person by citing certain facts. 

 Both will be punished. 

 Japanese criminal defense lawyer Cho Sei-ho warned that the revised law does not include a classification of what constitutes  insult. 

 "There must be guidelines to distinguish what is considered an insult," Cho said. "For example,  even if someone now calls a Japanese leader a fool, it may be considered an insult under the revised law." 

 Death of Hana Kimura 

 The problem of online harassment has increased in recent years as the demand for cyberbullying prevention laws has increased after the death of professional wrestler and reality show star Hana Kimura.  Kimura, 22,  known for his role at the Netflix show Terrace House, committed suicide in 2020. The news caused sadness and shock across the country, with many citing online abuse  from social media users in the months leading up to her death. 

 Other performers have come forward to share their  experiences of online abuse. 

 Shortly after her death,  Japanese officials promised to address the threat of cyberbullying and  speed up government debate on relevant laws. 

 Kimura's mother, former professional wrestler Kyoko Kimura, established a non-profit organization called "Remember Hana" to raise awareness of cyberbullying by advocating stricter cyberbullying prevention laws after her daughter's death. 

 Kyoko held a press conference on Monday after Congress praised the new law and announced its decision. 

 "I want people to know that cyberbullying is a crime," she said, adding that she hopes this change will lead to more detailed laws.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#$1.5M phishing scam

-
Image
  The US Department of Justice has convicted a Nigerian national of participating in a business email compromise (BEC) scam worth $1.5 million. The Feds say Ebuka Raphael Umeti, 35, perpetuated the scam with two alleged partners in crime, using a combination of social engineering and malicious software to pull off the million-dollar BEC scheme. A BEC fraud involves phishing emails and deception to get businesses and organizations to send money or valuable data to attackers, usually over email. According to the DoJ, Umeti got involved in BEC scams as early as February 2016, when one of his alleged co-conspirators, fellow Nigerian national Franklin Ifeanyichukwu Okwonna, is said to have sent Umeti a phishing email template. The collaborators started to see success in 2018, siphoning $571,000 from a New York wholesaler and $400,000 from a Texan metal supplier. In the following years, the scammers started domain spoofing, signed up for VoIP numbers, and communicated over the gaming-focused
Read more

#Microsoft's AI boss thinks it’s perfectly OK to steal content if it's on the open web

-
Image
  Microsoft AI boss Mustafa Suleyman incorrectly believes that the moment you publish anything on the open web, it becomes “freeware” that anyone can freely copy and use. When CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him whether “AI companies have effectively stolen the world’s IP,” he said: I think that with respect to content that’s already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ‘90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been “freeware,” if you like, that’s been the understanding. Microsoft is currently the target of multiple lawsuits alleging that it — and OpenAI — are stealing copyrighted online stories to train generative AI models, so it may not surprise you to hear a Microsoft exec defend it as perfectly legal. I just didn’t expect him to be so very publicly and obviously wrong! I am not a lawyer, but even I can tell you that the
Read more

#This man used Fake Wi-Fi Scam on Domestic Flights

-
Image
  An Australian man has been charged with running a fake Wi-Fi access point during a domestic flight with an aim to steal user credentials and data. The unnamed 42-year-old "allegedly established fake free Wi-Fi access points, which mimicked legitimate networks, to capture personal data from unsuspecting victims who mistakenly connected to them," the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a press release last week. The agency said the suspect was charged in May 2024 after it launched an investigation a month earlier following a report from an airline about a suspicious Wi-Fi network identified by its employees during a domestic flight. A subsequent search of his baggage on April 19 led to the seizure of a portable wireless access device, a laptop, and a mobile phone. He was arrested on May 8 after a search warrant was executed at his home. The individual is said to have staged what's called an evil twin
Read more