[decimon]

As much as I hate malware, I distrust government more. Here in the US they'll be kicking in doors over suspected cyber crimes.

[decimon]

Ping

[RikaStrom]

Under Japan's new law, people who create or distribute a computer virus with no justifiable reason

What would they consider a justifiable reason to be?

[Cheetahcat]

Just publish their names and addresses.

[muir_redwoods]

People who create and release computer viruses should be publicly flogged to death naked with lead-tipped length of barbed wire while being hosed down with hot vinegar.

But then again, I'm a moderate

[MCH]

IF they’re actually convicted and found guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt - then this punishment is not NEARLY enough.

[FourPeas]

Those who deliberately store a computer virus face up to two years in prison or fines up to 300,000 yen.

I hope this is an error in translation. Studying a virus can provide lots of learning opportunities. I even have a friend who collects some of the more interesting ones as a novelty.

[FourPeas]

As much as I hate malware, I distrust government more.

I'm with you.

[varyouga]

“As much as I hate malware, I distrust government more.”

Yep, same crap with these jackbooted child porn and drug investigations. The government likes to exploit people's emotions to lower the burden of proof and take us away from “innocent until proved guilty”.

NYPD recently did a city-wide child porn possession bust. They posted each suspect’s name, occupation and address. It made front page news. I find it disgusting that they can essentially ruin people's lives with no trial. The media will NEVER write a follow-up article if any of them are found not guilty.

With such a low burden of proof, it's too easy to plant evidence, hijack someones machine or hijack their wireless router. If you have typical security, anyone(including someone in the government) who doesn't like you can make your IP logs look like a violent pervert or hacker.

The same applies to drug possession with no other evidence. A planted silver-dollar sized package of 90% baking powder can give you a mandatory sentence of several years and ruin your life. No other evidence needed. It's SO easy for law enforcement to do and I have first-hand experience of seeing this happen.

[ShadowAce]

[ShadowAce]

[Tribune7]

Under the law, police can seize email communication logs of suspects from Internet service providers, among other information.

I'd be surprised if they couldn't do that in this country now with a warrant.

[antiRepublicrat]

Dangerous. Consider the defense “Computer security is my hobby/profession, and I wrote this virus as part of my research.” That needs to be a valid reason or you’re going to put a lot of innocent people in jail. OTOH, anybody could claim this reason, making the law useless.

Remember, the Morris Worm was innocently designed to gauge the size of the then-small Internet, not to bring the Internet to a crawl as it did. Under a law like this, Morris could have been prosecuted just for having created it in the lab.