NetSTAR

TOKYO June 9th, 2008
DeNA Co., Ltd.
NetSTAR, Inc.
Microsoft Co., Ltd.
Yahoo Japan Corporation
Rakuten, Inc.

The “Bill on the Improvement of the Environment for the Safe Use of the Internet by Children” was passed by the Lower House on June 6th. In response to this decision, DeNA Co., Ltd., NetSTAR, Inc., Microsoft Co., Ltd., Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Rakuten, Inc. would hereby like to restate our opinion on the bill to call for a careful discussion in the Upper House. It is our belief that the bill still has many issues to be addressed, including but not limited to the restriction on the freedom of speech and the hindrance of the development of filtering technologies.

1.Whether a certain piece of information is harmful is a decision that should be made upon individual values. For the government to define certain contents to be harmful, even if only to present an example, along with the imposed responsibility to delete such contents, may have substantial effect on the freedom of expression.
Furthermore, it has been reported that the Liberal Democratic Party has been motioning to allow the harmful contents to be defined within the “Master Plan” of the “Committee on Internet Juvenile Information Affairs and Environmental Improvement Promotion,” to be established as a part of the Cabinet Office. While the Bill allows the government to “exemplify,” this will in effect give the government authority to define which contents are harmful. We are concerned that such a Bill may be enacted without the public being adequately informed of the consequences.

2.The Bill proposes to implement a national registration system for "filtering promoting bodies.” This registration system leaves room for the government to easily influence the filtering criteria and other factors that may affect the freedom of expression. As such, we stand against this proposition.

3.Filtering is a tool for allowing the parents (guardians) to control select the information their children have access to. To enforce filtering as a tool to uniformly shut off certain information will not only distort the character of filtering itself, but may also hinder the development of the technology and the industry.

We would like to request that the Upper House bear these issues in mind as they discuss the Bill, and with consideration for the perspectives of the children and their parents (guardians), determine what is required to truly safeguard our children.

Translation provided by NetSTAR