OTSU -- The Shiga Prefectural Police will join forces with an Osaka Internet provider to fight the spread of child pornography through file-sharing software, it was announced on Feb. 9.
The deal signed between the Shiga police and K-Opticom Corp., a fiber optics telecoms firm, is aimed at warning users of the "Share" file-sharing program against posting child pornography, and proceeding to legal action if necessary.
The agreement includes a warning system because of the way the Share program works. Share users have three folders on their computers used by the program -- an upload folder, a download folder, and a cache folder for temporary storage of downloading files. Other users on the Share network have access to files in the cache folder, meaning users may be distributing child pornography without intending to.
Prefectural police have cracked down primarily on child pornography posted intentionally. However, the Share program makes it difficult for investigators to determine if users intended to distribute such images on the Net.
Under the agreement, if the Shiga police find child pornography in the cache file, with K-Opticom's cooperation they will pinpoint the IP address, issue an email warning to the violator and ask them to delete the images. If a violator fails to heed multiple warnings, the police will charge the culprit with violating the law banning the public display of pornographic images of children.
"Many users aren't aware it's illegal (to post such images on the Internet). We want to prevent the spread of child pornography through warnings," a Shiga police official said. The official added that the rights of victimized children should have priority over those of Internet users when it comes to providing private data to a third party. The police say they will ask other ISPs to cooperate in the fight against child pornography.
K-Opticom accounts for half of the some 300,000 Internet service contracts in Shiga Prefecture.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120210p2a00m0na014000c.html
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[I am curious as to how they will determine what is and what is not 'child porn' and who will decide?]
The deal signed between the Shiga police and K-Opticom Corp., a fiber optics telecoms firm, is aimed at warning users of the "Share" file-sharing program against posting child pornography, and proceeding to legal action if necessary.
The agreement includes a warning system because of the way the Share program works. Share users have three folders on their computers used by the program -- an upload folder, a download folder, and a cache folder for temporary storage of downloading files. Other users on the Share network have access to files in the cache folder, meaning users may be distributing child pornography without intending to.
Prefectural police have cracked down primarily on child pornography posted intentionally. However, the Share program makes it difficult for investigators to determine if users intended to distribute such images on the Net.
Under the agreement, if the Shiga police find child pornography in the cache file, with K-Opticom's cooperation they will pinpoint the IP address, issue an email warning to the violator and ask them to delete the images. If a violator fails to heed multiple warnings, the police will charge the culprit with violating the law banning the public display of pornographic images of children.
"Many users aren't aware it's illegal (to post such images on the Internet). We want to prevent the spread of child pornography through warnings," a Shiga police official said. The official added that the rights of victimized children should have priority over those of Internet users when it comes to providing private data to a third party. The police say they will ask other ISPs to cooperate in the fight against child pornography.
K-Opticom accounts for half of the some 300,000 Internet service contracts in Shiga Prefecture.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120210p2a00m0na014000c.html
________________________________________________________________
[I am curious as to how they will determine what is and what is not 'child porn' and who will decide?]
