Japanese Government Officially Requesting Internet Providers to Block Manga Piracy Sites

It was reported in the Japanese newspaper The Mainichi Shimbun on Friday that the Japanese Government is slowly going full swing when it comes to dealing with manga piracy. They have requested all Internet service providers in Japan to block sites that have illegally uploaded manga and related digital and scanned printed copyright content.

In a report by Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), it is revealed that around September 2017 to February, the worth of damage to copyright holders in Japan costs is around 400 billion yen ($3.73 billion USD)

The government of Japan now plans to make a new legislation in 2019 to expand site-blocking law, which is only applicable to child pornography at the moment. A bill may also be passed for restricting “leech sites”. As of now, they are currently target the following websites: AniTube!, Mangamura, and MioMio.

Since 2012, digital comic sales began to drop when these related websites began to rise in number.

Although they are persistent in pushing all this to end the continuing piracy, this might be considered as unconstitutional due to violating privacy of communication and functioning as censorship.

Article 21 of Japan’s Constitution says the following: “Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed. No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated.”

Source: The Mainichi Shimbun, Anime News Network