Japan to Criminalize Downloading Copyrighted Material
On Friday, the Japanese parliament passed an amendment making it illegal to knowingly download copyrighted material without authorization. However, the new law does not cover online streaming, does not specify a punishment for illegal downloading, and specifies that violators of the new law must have been aware prior to downloading that the file was initially uploaded without authorization. The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2010.
Uploading copyrighted material to the Internet without authorization has been illegal in Japan since 1997, but downloading copyrighted material for personal use has never previously been illegal in Japan.
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It’s an incredibly vague, far-reaching, long-overdue amendment that probably won’t actually do anything for several, several months… but if only because it’s just one incredibly infinitesimal puzzle piece to a much larger query in regulating ethical behavior on the internet.
I have a personal theory that the Japanese parliment likes to create the impression of implementing change rather than actually implementing change itself, thus vague laws like this with no teeth that allow politicians and record companies to claim victory, and situations like implementing a three year “study” of lolicon instead of making any resolute legal decisions. I’m not complaining; just pointing out my impression that this is the way the Japanese government works. It seems like an “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude coupled with, “If it is broke, fix it slowly and incrementally so as not to upset anyone with sudden, drastic changes.”
About five years too late to save anime in Japan.
Really… Take a look at the number of studios consolidating and/or closing, and you’ll see why. Even a 13-episode project is seven figures these days, with no real assurance they’ll get the investment back.