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Japan passes Anti-Downloading Law

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief October 1, 2012 · 1 min read

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The Japanese government has just passed a law that makes it illegal to download copyright materials. The Anti-Downloading Law imposes a 2-year jail term and a fine of 2 million yen (or around $26,000).

The number of illegal downloaders have greatly surpassed the legal downloaders in Japan by 10:1 and the number is dwindling every year.

Japan is known for really high-speed internet but that is at the cost of preventing people from using peer-to-peer networks to upload illegal content.

The country has already a law that criminalizes uploading of illegal content with fines of up to 10 million yen (about $128,000) and a prison term of up to 10 years.

This time around, the Japanese government is also penalizing everyone that is caught downloading illegal content.

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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54 Comments

jam · 14 years ago

inakupo! may gagayahin na nman ang mga mambabatas natin!!!!

Blank · 14 years ago

Downloading copyrighted materials is illegal:
I think some of the reasons we still download are:
1. we cannot afford or too expensive (Php350+/dvd/cd)
2. it is not available in the country (anime,tv series, manga,etc)
3. many more.

User1 · 14 years ago

Affected masyado mga pirata dito. Hahaha. If you can’t buy music, just stick to FM radio, if you cant buy movies, mag HBO na lang kayo.

Nena · 14 years ago

This is crazy! LOL.

etsong · 14 years ago

Hello everyone,
Curious lang, are there any developers in here? Working for these small time to big time corporations developing softwares/patches in a rush only to find out after a few hours of releasing the software find it in torrentbay?
are you a film maker – worked so hard on a project – developed for years, spent huge money — only to find it in torrent sites after sometime?

Locke · 14 years ago

I agree. Some people have a twisted sense of privileges. It’s no wonder they think that these movies, music and books must be available for a very low price of for free. Try being a developer or a content creator. It feels as if you’re robbed.

Wahaha · 14 years ago

Hehehe.. kung sino man ang magpapasa ng batas na ganyan sa pinas dapat alisin nya lahat ng mp3, movies, wallpapers, apps at games nya na nadownload lang from illegal sources mula sa mga gadgets nila. kakahiya naman kung binabawal mo ang mga ito pero kapag nag ring ang cellphone mo ang ring tone ay gangnam style (na kinopya mo lang), hehehe.

Nurse Hussein · 14 years ago

No doubt, soon in the Philippines!

Loki · 14 years ago

Goodbye Free E-books, poverty is the reason why we download illegally. Our country first needs to solve poverty.

Yoyo · 14 years ago

Because downloading illegally is WRONG. Although there are things that I think should be allowed to be downloaded freely by certain circumstances (like e-books for students), most are just not.

Greedy corporations? I don’t think so. These contents such as movies and music are considered luxury items, and not basic needs (ehem, greedy philippine corporations).

If you can’t buy it, you don’t deserve it. Unless of course if it’s a basic necessity.

Blue · 14 years ago

Exorbitant pricing is equally wrong. If the goods and services are priced fairly, illegal downloading would be curbed significantly. A quick glance at our utilities – which are necessities – will tell you that the companies running these businesses are not interested in fair pricing. Movies, music and books – these are not luxuries. Where did you get that supremely misguided information? These are important mediums of expression and transmission/sharing of information and culture. Luxury my a$$. That’s how greedy these corporations are, they want to put a price on freedom of expression and they take advantage of corrupt government officials to consummate their greed. If they can put a price on air, they probably would. Oh wait, they actually have!

bom · 14 years ago

naku pano tayo magkakasya sa kulungan nyan. malamang 50% ng population natin sa kulungan ang future.

Denmark · 14 years ago

I dont think same Law will be implemented here in Pinas, government dont have a capability pra hulihin ang mga nagdadownload. Government website nga lang di nila masecure eh.

Filbook · 14 years ago

Just use peerblock gentlemen.

Techjunkeez · 14 years ago

Match this with the Cybercrime bill that we have here and internet is all Doom.

Ron · 14 years ago

This is a lot better than the libel clause on our Cybercrime Law.

Downloading copyrighted materials are wrong, everybody knows that. But when your opinions deemed malicious by others could be the basis of a libel case?

Locke · 14 years ago

Agree. What’s wrong is wrong.

bigdickrodman · 14 years ago

wrong + wrong = right! hihihi

agentorenz · 14 years ago

obviously, ang nag-pasa ng batas na to ay mga puppet ng corporations. Kung isang ordinary consumer lang ang gagawa ng batas, ang pinamagandang ginawa ay batas para ibaba ang presyo ng software licenses para lahat makaka-bili. Ang takaw kasi sa profit e.

Locke · 14 years ago

I doubt piracy will disappear if prices go down. I have friends rich enough to buy iPhones yet cannot purchase even a $0.99 app. They tell me “Why buy it when I can jailbreak and download it for free?”. It was astounding to say the least.

Josh · 14 years ago

I’m poor thats why!

Prime Health · 14 years ago

Ouch! Hanep sa batas ah! Kasama ba yan sa depensa nila laban sa China? Wehehe…

voltes5 · 14 years ago

Somehow i feel like the internet freedom we have today may soon be gone in the next years..idont know, mybe it’a just me..do you guys feel the same way?