NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Broad Internet filtering proposed in Japan
------- Forwarded Message
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
To: "ip" <ip@v2.listbox.com>
Subject: [IP] net filtering in Japan
Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 19:57:28 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Rod Van Meter <rdv@sfc.wide.ad.jp>
> Date: May 8, 2008 7:31:44 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
> Subject: net filtering in Japan
>
> Dave, for IP, if you wish.
>
> The government here is proposing mandating filtering of the Internet
> for
> child porn. See an article about the proposal at
> http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080502TDY01304.htm
> and the WIDE Project's position on the proposal, attached below.
>
> --Rod
>
>
> http://www.wide.ad.jp/news/press/20080429-e.html
>
> The Liberal Democratic Party has been discussing what can be
> translated as "the bill regarding prevention of browsing harmful
> information on the Internet for sound rearing of minors" ("the bill"
> hereafter) that may be submitted to the ongoing National Diet.
>
> Since 1988, the WIDE Project has been aiming for construction of
> public information infrastructure that can contribute to a wide
> variety of social activities including medicine, industry, education
> and government. Through global connection among computers and other
> equipment, the construction of a distributed system on such
> connections
> will serve a useful purpose from an individual and social
> viewpoint, and bring to the fore the relevant issues and problems
> in order to bring this to fruition. From this standpoint, we are
> strongly objecting to the bill.
>
> The bill states that the following measures will be taken for
> protection of minors from harmful information:
>
> 1. Setting of criteria for harmfulness by a cabinet council and
> ministerial enforcement of them
> 2. Mandating web site administrators to delete harmful information
> 3. Mandating cellular phone service carriers to install filtering
> for
> minors
>
> The WIDE Project indicates their objections as follows.
>
> 1. Danger of the government's setting criteria for harmful information
> and having rights to enforce them
>
> The meaning of information is decided through interaction between
> senders and receivers of the information. The bill suggests that the
> government decides the meaning of information, and restricts the
> access to it uniformly, which will lead to removal of wide
> possibilities in the information space and prevention of sound
> development of the information society.
>
> 2. Danger of mandating deletion of "harmful information"
>
> If it is mandated for the administrators of online space for sharing
> and exchanging information to delete "harmful information" based on
> the governmental standards, situations will arise where people of this
> country cannot even discuss which information should be regarded as
> harmful by citing examples. This would endanger the sovereignty of our
> people.
>
> Also, from the viewpoint of security management, the bill will give
> attackers new opportunities for attacking information security. It
> would be possible for the attackers to deprive site administrators of
> their freedom to operate the sites or even of their ability to earn a
> living, by repeatedly posting "harmful information" on the target
> site, as the administrator will have to continuously respond to the
> posts, and will be punished if they neglect to do so.
>
> 3. Danger of mandating service providers to install filtering
>
> We have learned through experience that users need to be able to
> flexibly operate on filtering.
>
> Among widely used filtering technology today are spam filters to
> distinguish nuisance e-mail messages.
>
> Although natural languages such as Japanese or English have polysemy,
> today's filtering programs are not intelligent enough to handle this
> property of the languages. Day to day, many useful pieces of
> information are filtered by spam filters so that they do not reach the
> correspondents who need such information.
>
> We are afraid that this type of problems will be promoted by the
> mandated filtering by the cellular phone service carriers that the
> bill
> requires.
>
> Filtering is an important and useful technology for improving
> productivity of individuals by automating selection of incoming
> information. However, if users cannot turn on and off the feature
> accordingly to their present needs, or if they cannot access the
> filtered information when needed, their productivity will inevitably
> deteriorate.
>
> Towards sound social application of digital technology
>
> The Internet has proliferated as both a technically and a socially
> distributed system where many computers and other pieces of equipment
> can be connected and where various individuals and groups can
> participate in a personal manner. By fully utilizing the
> characteristics of digital technology, becoming indispensible
> infrastructure. The best way to tackle problems in this distributed
> system is to do it in a distributed manner. If a central entity
> tackles those problems in a uniform way, it might lead to loss of
> advantages of digital technology or distributed systems themselves.
>
> We cannot expect minors to learn if we do not solve problems
> surrounding them where the problems arise.
>
> If we are to think that sound rearing of minors will be achieved by
> the central force that silences information and controls inputs for
> the minors, it would mean that we are neglecting the power of
> families, the power of education and the power of industries. Should
> this be realized, the power of families, education and industries in
> this country will continue to be lost.
>
> It should be our principle that problems are to be solved where they
> arise.
>
> Otherwise, the people of Japan will not be able to competitively
> survive in the world by improving their problem-solving abilities as
> the global environment in the 21st century changes rapidly.
>
> The WIDE Project will by all means cooperate in applying the digital
> technology's characteristics as being an infrastructure for solutions
> in a distributed manner against social problems happening in the
> distributed system, and contributing in planning and executing such
> solutions.
>
> The WIDE Project members
>
>
>
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<html><body bgcolor=3D"#FFFFFF"><div><br><br><br>Begin forwarded message:<b=
r><br></div><blockquote type=3D"cite"><div><b>From:</b> Rod Van Meter <<=
a href=3D"mailto:rdv@sfc.wide.ad.jp";>rdv@sfc.wide.ad.jp</a>><br><b>Date:=
</b> May 8, 2008 7:31:44 PM EDT<br><b>To:</b> David Farber <<a href=3D"m=
ailto:dave@farber.net">dave@farber.net</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>net fi=
ltering in Japan</b><br><br></div></blockquote><div></div><blockquote type=
=3D"cite"><div><span>Dave, for IP, if you wish.</span><br><span></span><br>=
<span>The government here is proposing mandating filtering of the Internet =
for</span><br><span>child porn. See an article about the proposal at<=
/span><br><span><a href=3D"http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080502TDY=
01304.htm">http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080502TDY01304.htm</a></s=
pan><br><span>and the WIDE Project's position on the proposal, attached bel=
ow.</span><br><span></span><br><span> &=
nbsp; --Rod</span><br><span>=
</span><br><span></span><br><span><a href=3D"http://www.wide.ad.jp/news/pre=
ss/20080429-e.html">http://www.wide.ad.jp/news/press/20080429-e.html</a></s=
pan><br><span></span><br><span>The Liberal Democratic Party has been discus=
sing what can be</span><br><span>translated as "the bill regarding preventi=
on of browsing harmful</span><br><span>information on the Internet for soun=
d rearing of minors" ("the bill"</span><br><span>hereafter) that may be sub=
mitted to the ongoing National Diet.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Since=
1988, the WIDE Project has been aiming for construction of</span><br><span=
>public information infrastructure that can contribute to a wide</span><br>=
<span>variety of social activities including medicine, industry, education<=
/span><br><span>and government. Through global connection among compu=
ters and other</span><br><span>equipment, the construction of a distributed=
system on such connections</span><br><span>will serve a useful purpose fro=
m an individual and social</span><br><span>viewpoint, and bring to the fore=
the relevant issues and problems</span><br><span>in order to bring this to=
fruition. From this standpoint, we are</span><br><span>strongly objecting =
to the bill.</span><br><span></span><br><span>The bill states that the foll=
owing measures will be taken for</span><br><span>protection of minors from =
harmful information:</span><br><span></span><br><span> 1. Setti=
ng of criteria for harmfulness by a cabinet council and</span><br><span>min=
isterial enforcement of them</span><br><span> 2. Mandating web =
site administrators to delete harmful information</span><br><span> &n=
bsp;3. Mandating cellular phone service carriers to install filtering for</=
span><br><span>minors</span><br><span></span><br><span>The WIDE Project ind=
icates their objections as follows.</span><br><span></span><br><span>1. Dan=
ger of the government's setting criteria for harmful information</span><br>=
<span>and having rights to enforce them</span><br><span></span><br><span>Th=
e meaning of information is decided through interaction between</span><br><=
span>senders and receivers of the information. The bill suggests that the</=
span><br><span>government decides the meaning of information, and restricts=
the</span><br><span>access to it uniformly, which will lead to removal of =
wide</span><br><span>possibilities in the information space and prevention =
of sound</span><br><span>development of the information society.</span><br>=
<span></span><br><span>2. Danger of mandating deletion of "harmful informat=
ion"</span><br><span></span><br><span>If it is mandated for the administrat=
ors of online space for sharing</span><br><span>and exchanging information =
to delete "harmful information" based on</span><br><span>the governmental s=
tandards, situations will arise where people of this</span><br><span>countr=
y cannot even discuss which information should be regarded as</span><br><sp=
an>harmful by citing examples. This would endanger the sovereignty of our</=
span><br><span>people.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Also, from the view=
point of security management, the bill will give</span><br><span>attackers =
new opportunities for attacking information security. It</span><br><span>wo=
uld be possible for the attackers to deprive site administrators of</span><=
br><span>their freedom to operate the sites or even of their ability to ear=
n a</span><br><span>living, by repeatedly posting "harmful information" on =
the target</span><br><span>site, as the administrator will have to continuo=
usly respond to the</span><br><span>posts, and will be punished if they neg=
lect to do so.</span><br><span></span><br><span>3. Danger of mandating serv=
ice providers to install filtering</span><br><span></span><br><span>We have=
learned through experience that users need to be able to</span><br><span>f=
lexibly operate on filtering.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Among widely=
used filtering technology today are spam filters to</span><br><span>distin=
guish nuisance e-mail messages.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Although n=
atural languages such as Japanese or English have polysemy,</span><br><span=
>today's filtering programs are not intelligent enough to handle this</span=
><br><span>property of the languages. Day to day, many useful pieces of</sp=
an><br><span>information are filtered by spam filters so that they do not r=
each the</span><br><span>correspondents who need such information.</span><b=
r><span></span><br><span>We are afraid that this type of problems will be p=
romoted by the</span><br><span>mandated filtering by the cellular phone ser=
vice carriers that the bill</span><br><span>requires.</span><br><span></spa=
n><br><span>Filtering is an important and useful technology for improving</=
span><br><span>productivity of individuals by automating selection of incom=
ing</span><br><span>information. However, if users cannot turn on and off t=
he feature</span><br><span>accordingly to their present needs, or if they c=
annot access the</span><br><span>filtered information when needed, their pr=
oductivity will inevitably</span><br><span>deteriorate.</span><br><span></s=
pan><br><span>Towards sound social application of digital technology</span>=
<br><span></span><br><span>The Internet has proliferated as both a technica=
lly and a socially</span><br><span>distributed system where many computers =
and other pieces of equipment</span><br><span>can be connected and where va=
rious individuals and groups can</span><br><span>participate in a personal =
manner. By fully utilizing the</span><br><span>characteristics of dig=
ital technology, becoming indispensible</span><br><span>infrastructure. The=
best way to tackle problems in this distributed</span><br><span>system is =
to do it in a distributed manner. If a central entity</span><br><span>tackl=
es those problems in a uniform way, it might lead to loss of</span><br><spa=
n>advantages of digital technology or distributed systems themselves.</span=
><br><span></span><br><span>We cannot expect minors to learn if we do not s=
olve problems</span><br><span>surrounding them where the problems arise.</s=
pan><br><span></span><br><span>If we are to think that sound rearing of min=
ors will be achieved by</span><br><span>the central force that silences inf=
ormation and controls inputs for</span><br><span>the minors, it would mean =
that we are neglecting the power of</span><br><span>families, the power of =
education and the power of industries. Should</span><br><span>this be=
realized, the power of families, education and industries in</span><br><sp=
an>this country will continue to be lost.</span><br><span></span><br><span>=
It should be our principle that problems are to be solved where they</span>=
<br><span>arise.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Otherwise, the people of =
Japan will not be able to competitively</span><br><span>survive in the worl=
d by improving their problem-solving abilities as</span><br><span>the globa=
l environment in the 21st century changes rapidly.</span><br><span></span><=
br><span>The WIDE Project will by all means cooperate in applying the digit=
al</span><br><span>technology's characteristics as being an infrastructure =
for solutions</span><br><span>in a distributed manner against social proble=
ms happening in the</span><br><span>distributed system, and contributing in=
planning and executing such</span><br><span>solutions.</span><br><span></s=
pan><br><span>The WIDE Project members</span><br><span></span><br><span></s=
pan><br><span></span><br></div></blockquote><div style=3D"padding:0 4px 4px=
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