FC: Japanese district court says linking to erotic sites is illegal

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

From: "Kristen Tsolis" <ktsolis () mindspring com>
To: "Declan McCullagh" <declan () well com>, <CYBERIA-L () listserv aol com>
Subject: Osaka court ruling: linking may be illegal.
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 01:39:39 -0700

The cphack folks are not alone in deliberating the legality of linking to
sites.

On March 30th, the Osaka District Court ruled that linking to a site that is
violating the law is in itself illegal.

The case revolves around Mr. Kiuchi, a Yokohama software engineer that
created FLMASK. FLMASK is a tool that can remove what is commonly referred
to as a 'photomask' or 'mosaic'. The Japanese government requires that the
more prurient parts of pornographic pictures be filtered with these masks,
and Kiuchi not only posted his software to the Internet but also linked to
pornographic sites where his software could be used.

The FLMASK users group claims that FLMASK is not a tool for removing
photomasks but rather an image manipulation tool used for masking and
retouching JPEG images. When FLMASK is used on an image once and then the
same area is masked again, the end product will look quite similar to the
original image. It seems that FLMASK uses encryption to do this.

Kiuchi was found guilty of aiding and abetting the distribution of
pornographic images. In his decision, Judge Masayuki Kawai stated that
Kiuchi had made it easier for the average Internet user to access indecent
material. The judge determined that Kiuchi had jeopardized public morals and
sexual morality but stated that his ruling should not be interpreted as
unfairly infringing freedom of speech (rough translation here).

Article in English:
http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/news/99001

the Osaka District Court decision (In Japanese)
http://w3.scan.or.jp/sonoda/data/fl_link01.html

More information on how the FLMASK tool works and mirror sites:
http://www.martec.net/isg/flmask/index2.htm

The FLMASK Foundation
http://www.pileup.com/mask/

-Kristen

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Kristen Tsolis
ktsolis () mindspring com
Fingerprint: F0E6 30D7 ED82 1BE4 8C31  8219 4636 9186 66E4 8623

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