>The government of Japan has approved a new bill aimed at reducing the downloading of pirated content from the Internet. The new law, which is targeted for Jan 1, 2021, will criminalize the downloading of manga, magazines and academic material with prison sentences of up to two years. Operators of pirate linking sites will also face up to five years behind bars.
>After months of deliberations, the government has just approved a new bill that aims to address the concerns of copyright holders and those averse to the more draconian aspects of the original proposals.
>The draft legislation criminalizes the downloading of unlicensed manga, magazines and academic publications from the Internet. The penalties will be brought into line with those already in place for music and movies with a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or a fine of two million yen (US$19,118). The most severe penalties will be reserved for egregious and repeat offenders.
>In a step back from earlier proposals, Internet users will be allowed to download some image-based and academic content for limited private use in order not to stifle the flow of information and education, provided that activity does not impact copyright holders. Where the precise boundaries lie is currently unclear, however.
>In the near future, to clear up any uncertainty, it will offer advisories to the public to ensure that people understand what they can and can’t do with copyrighted content to keep within the new law.
>One aspect that is perfectly clear is the outlawing of so-called “leech” sites. These platforms, known in the West as linking or indexing sites, do not carry any copyrighted content themselves but provide hyperlinks to infringing material hosted elsewhere.
torrentfreak.com
ARE YOU HAPPY NOW ANIMEFAGS?
>inb4 japanese laws only apply in japan
