Japanese Man Arrested For Storing Malware

Orome1 writes "38-year-old Yasuhiro Kawaguchi is the first person in Japan to get arrested for storing malware on his computer after the upper house's Judicial Affairs Committee has confirmed the new anti-malware law passed by the Japanese parliament. The law considers the creation, distribution and storage of malware a crime punishable with up to three years in prison and a fine that could reach the sum of 500,000 yen ($6,200)."

Comments

From the article: "without a legitimate reason"

[tepples]

The article says the charge was "storing a computer virus without a legitimate reason". In this case, the suspect "told the MPD that he did it to punish people who use file-sharing software"; do you consider that "a legitimate reason"?

Re:Symantec? McAfee?

[Derekloffin]

The summary is pretty poor (as usual). The article says 'The revised Penal Code, which was enforced July 14, bans storage of a computer virus for the purpose of infecting other computers.' I doubt Symantec or McAfee store for the purpose of infecting other computers.