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Japan: Police Arrest Journalists For Selling DVD-Backup Tools

Posted by timothy on from the selective-enforcement dept.

Modellismo writes "Last week four journalists from Sansai Books were arrested for selling, through the company website, a copy of a magazine published last year (with a free cover mounted disc) focused on how to backup/rip DVDs. They violated Japan's Unfair Competition Prevention Law that recently has been revised to make illegal the sale of any DRM circumvention device or software. It's interesting to note that Japanese cyber police could arrest the Amazon Japan CEO, too, as the online giant is selling a lot of magazines, books and software packages for DVD copy and ripping: exactly what put Sansai Books' staff in trouble."

12 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. libdvdcss ilegal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    wonder how many enbedded devices produced in japan have this little piece of code in them...

    1. Re:libdvdcss ilegal? by Tukz · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Yes, and has nothing to do with the current meaning of "cyber".
      The cyber prefix was taken from Cybernetic, but that doesn't mean they mean the same thing.

      --
      - Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
    2. Re:libdvdcss ilegal? by russotto · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That is, unless the US start requiring that people that post such things be extradicted there.

      It is not illegal in the US to post instructions for installing libdvdcss, as long as one does not include an actual hyperlink to the software. You can include the web address, but not the actual <a href=... Ridiculous? Enormously so.

    3. Re:libdvdcss ilegal? by tragedy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Words and prefixes can in fact have multiple meanings. They're usually related in some way, but sometimes the meanings can be completely different. In the case of "cyber", it comes from "cybernetics" which comes from Greek. Today, the term nebulously refers to computers in general, electronics, and electronic communications. Your attempts to pigeonhole the term are quite amusing. I can only assume that you're quite young or have very limited experience.

  2. Japan: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The only country who bows lower to corporations than the US of A.

    1. Re:Japan: by jrumney · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Parent would be correct, or at the very least it's a tie.

      It's not a tie. While a few very high profile sites like Pandora and NetFlix geoblock consumers from outside the US, most internet radio from the US is available worldwide. But try finding a Japanese internet radio station that plays music and is not blocked from outside Japan. Also, if you ever get the chance to watch the news on NHK Worldwide, witness how the entire sports segment of the news has the video replaced by a graphic stating "Due to rights issues, the video for this item is not available outside Japan", even though most of the sports being shown are local Japanese events that do not have rights holders outside of Japan to complain, and any other news channel is fine with showing short snippets of non-live sport, under fair use news reporting exceptions to whatever exclusive broadcast rights are in place for the sport.

  3. Journalists? by tomhath · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Two warnings were issued to Sansai Books by three industry organizations, including the Japan Video Software Association, protesting the sale of the guidebook, but the publisher continued to offer the product.

    There are ways to dispute a law you disagree with. Disobeying it is usually not a good way.

    1. Re:Journalists? by AngryDeuce · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There are ways to dispute a law you disagree with. Disobeying it is usually not a good way.

      I disagree. Civil disobedience, historically speaking, is a very effective method to bring about political change. The founding of the U.S. itself is steeped in civil disobedience.

      The simple fact is, most people don't give a shit about injustice until it effects them personally. Civil disobedience brings it to their doorstep and forces them to acknowledge it. It took people occupying segregated lunch counters in the South before civil rights were really addressed 50 years ago, just as it took people occupying lower Manhattan to get wealth inequality really addressed today. Whether you agree with the protesters or not is irrelevant (and I'm really not interested in a bunch of ranting responses about the Occupy movement one way or the other, honestly); it forced those issues into the limelight. Mission: Accomplished.

    2. Re:Journalists? by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Interesting

      the point is, those without money should still get quality education, healthcare, and a chance at advancing themselves

      but current tax laws in the USA and American social policies advanced by the right are stratifying society, permanently

      meaning, if you are poor or middle class, you get inferior education, healthcare, and no chance to advance socioeconomically

      the point of life should be to better yourself. not to slave your entire life for someone who already has a lot of money, always will have a lot of money, never suffers for their crimes in the same way as the poor, and lives in a system rigged so that they, their children, and their grandchildren, can never possibly be poor. while those are poor, their children, and their grandchildren, are in such a rigged system they can never possibly be rich

      that's wealth inequality. a class society. that's where the USA is headed with the right wing republican political agenda

      the USA should be a MERITOCRACY. this is not what we have. what we have are country club boys complaining that the poor don't understand hard work, while they get a cushy job where they hardly exert any effort, just for chumming with the dad of their friend. meanwhile, the poor and middle class bust their ass, sometimes in two jobs, and live paycheck to paycheck, where the smallest of accidents or healthcare emergencies can ruin their entire lives

      THAT'S wealth inequality, and it is not a free society

      --
      intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  4. Interesting by ausrob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's a wonder that the publishing company (Sansai Books) weren't issued some kind of ceast and desist letter first, considering the company did not break the law when the magazine was published *last year* (presumably well before the law was ammended). It sounds like they were probably selling back issues and may not have fully appreciated the situation.

  5. About 15 years ago it was phone cards. by mark_reh · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Some guys got arrested for dealing in counterfeit phone cards- they figured out how to duplicate them and started doing so en masse, selling them on the streets and train platforms around Tokyo. Ultimately a judge ruled that it was not a violation of law to duplicate or even sell the cards. It was only illegal to use them. Shortly thereafter you could see guys standing in front of police boxes, selling the cards to anyone walking by. Shortly after that NTT got rid of the phones that used those cards.

    Japan has some weird laws. Someone once told me, and I don't know if it is true, that Japanese laws don't say what you can't do, they say what you can do. If there isn't a law specifically allowing something, then you can't legally do whatever it is.

    1. Re:About 15 years ago it was phone cards. by Darkness404 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Japan is a weird place. On one hand it is very much into collectivism. On the other hand, it also has a strong amount of individualism in its culture due to the influence of the west. So often you see the two basic philosophies clash.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.