0. Introduction
We consider the arrest is an arbitrary and unlawful. Recently Japanese police have an obvious tendency to suppress free speech and Internet activities. In this article we will explain what's wrong. Note: This article states Freekaneko.com's opinion, our opinion may differ from lawyers' or Isamu Kaneko's opinion. We are not law experts, our view may lack correctness.
1. An Irregular Arrest
The arrest of Isamu Kaneko is clearly different from another ordinary case of copyright violation. Creator of a P2P file-sharing software was arrested for 'abetment'(assisting) of illegal file-sharing by creating the software. Many people were shocked by the arrest.
Japanese constitute clearly states that any crime must be explicitly designated by law. Creating P2P file-sharing software is completely legal under Japanese law. If file-sharing softwares are prohibited, that must be written in the law. Few years ago, prohibition of copy-protection cracking was added to the copyright law. This addition is not welcomed, although its the only lawful way to prohibit something.
This time, the arrest was done without law. If 'Abetment' is punishable with such arbitrary measure, the police can arrest anyone by any reason. We fear that situation.
2. Arbitrary arrests and searches of Japanese police
Case 1: Computer security researcher was arrested and charged for finding a security hole. A website of notorious copyright holder's lobbyist organization 'ACCS' had a big security hole which reveal every personal information of end-users. The researcher of kyoto university found the vulnerability and made public. Then he was arrested and accused of illegal access.
Case 2: Recently, Kyoto prefectural police searched and investigated a certified consumer advisor. The advisor has a very famous website which warn and discuss about fraudulent products, services, and companies. The company called 'Wedding' sued and accused him of defamation. Google is now excluding the website from search result, due to the law-suit threatening of the company.
Interesting facts... In 1999, A lieutenant of the Kyoto police and executives of the company were arrested for bribing.
Case 3: In 1999, Kyoto prefectural police (again!) arrested a fanzine author of Pocket Monster. She was detained for 22days, and she lost her health, job, residence. She was found guilty but fined only 100,000yen (less than $1000). An arbitrary arrest destroy her life for a minor offense.
Case 4: Recently, three peace activists were arrested for trespassing. "The activists were distributing pamphlets which called for people to think more carefully about the deployment of the SDF. They were distributed to mailboxes at the SDF personnel's housing units in the western Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa." Detention was up to outrageous 75days. Amnesty International considers they are prisoners of conscience.
3. Fears amongst software researchers and engineers
Now many Japanese software engineers are having fear to do their work. A P2P researcher said 'if my software made success, I'll be arrested'. If creator of file-sharing software can be arrested, creators of music players (which can import musics from CD) or CD-R burners can be arrested too.
These arbitrary arrests (this case and security-hole case) made engineers very nervous. Some engineer created security-hole checking software, but he cannot make it public. Another engineer found a big security-hole in a website of some bank, but he cannot do anything. Because they fear.
Wrong laws or too strict rules are bad too. But arresting without rule is the worst. Police can determine what to arrest. So we have to very careful not doing anything may upset the police or copyright holders.
4. Conclusion
This arrest is very arbitrary and unlawful without rule. Arbitrary enforcement harms our industry, freedom, and rights. We call for the immediate withdrawal of prosecution.