Japan - Gov't set to demand internet providers block access to pirated manga sites

[Len]

TOKYO -- The Japanese government is currently working out a proposal to demand internet providers block websites offering pirated manga, magazines and other copyrighted content for free.

The measure is expected to be formally approved at a Cabinet meeting on crime prevention policy later this month.

The government is set to demand providers cut off access from within Japan to three specific pirate content sites, two of which are based outside the country. Internet users in Japan continue to have access to the sites despite law enforcement pointing them out to domestic providers, which have also been issued administrative guidance over the problem.

However, there is currently no legal basis for the government to issue site-blocking demands, while there are also worries that the demands could infringe on Article 21 of the Constitution, which states, "No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated." The government plans to ask for internet providers' understanding based on the assertion that, as the pirate content websites harm publishers and authors, the site-blocking demands are permissible under the "averting present danger" article of Japan's Penal Code.

Domestic internet providers are already working with authorities to cut access to child porn sites, and the government is hopeful of their cooperation over pirate content webpages as well.

The pirate sites' hit count has ballooned since they began to be better known in around August 2017. Sales of digital comics, which had been rising steadily since 2012, began dropping in that same month. The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) has informed the government that, between last September and February this year, piracy has inflicted an estimated 400 billion yen-plus in damage to copyright holders in Japan.

Manga and anime are an important link in the government's "Cool Japan" strategy to promote Japanese cultural products abroad. At a March 19 news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced that the government was "considering all measures including site blocking" to battle piracy. Participants at an April 3 meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)'s Research Commission on Intellectual Property Strategy warned that the damage from piracy "is growing," and could even begin putting publishers out of business this year if nothing was done.

Meanwhile, the government is also set to consider a new law to combat "leech sites," or websites that aggregate links to others that host pirated content. It is thought that most visitors to pirated content sites get there via leech sites. However, under present law, just posting a link is not considered a copyright violation.

Furthermore, even if internet providers cooperate with the government to block direct access to pirated content sites, it may be possible to reach them via the leech sites. A "leech site law" would aim to close that route to pirated content, though there is a danger this could violate the constitutional right to freedom of expression. With that risk in mind, the government plans to consider the content and applicability of any new legislation on the problem.