FC: Japan may require mandatory ID checks for digital signatures

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

> From: Jim Lucier
> To: Declan () well com
> Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 09:27:46 -0500
> Subject: For FC: Japan May Require ID for Dig Sigs
>
>
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000205/tc/japan_internet_crime_1.html
>
> Saturday February 5 1:36 AM ET
> Report: Japan Fights Internet Crime
>
> TOKYO (AP) - With hackers barraging government Internet sites, Japanese
> police announced plans to improve crime-fighting in cyberspace, newspapers
> reported Saturday.
>
> Beginning late last month, unidentified hackers began a high-profile
> campaign to crack state sites. And despite its love for just about
> everything high-tech, Japan is far behind other countries when it comes to
> tackling online crime.
>
> The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest paper, said the National Police Agency
> has requested $1.78 million from the country's fiscal 2000 budget to battle
> the problem. Police want to study how hackers break into Web sites and
> ensure user names are not being abused, the reports said.
>
> [...]



> A bill aimed at improving user verification, a so-called digital signature
> bill, is due to be submitted to parliament soon, the Asahi Shimbun
> reported. Digital signatures allow people to use the Internet to buy and
> sell goods and services, it said.
>
> The police agency is urging that mandatory identity checks on people who
> apply for such signatures be made part of the bill, the paper said.
>
> The proposed legislation comes on the heels of a new law parliament passed
> last summer to make it illegal to access sites without the proper
> clearance. It takes effect this month.
[...]

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