A Japanese shareware developer’s controversial arrest has sparked a number of weird phenomena ranging from a rapid increase in illegal exchanges of software, a massive protest movement and suggestions of triviality among the country’s frisky Internet community, according to Weekly Playboy (6/15).
Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old Tokyo University professor arrested for abetting the violation of the Copyright Law, has garnered a tremendous wave of support since the cops picked him up earlier this month.
But, instead of scaring off users of Kaneko’s Winny program, which allowed for anonymous online exchanges of computer files, the program has suddenly become the hottest Japanese software on the Net and the blanket publicity given the academic’s arrest increased its clients exponentially.
Net punters have also swooped in to help pay Kaneko’s court costs, with a legal defense fund set up by Kaneko pal Toshikazu Arai netting over 10 million yen at a rate of more than 1 million yen a day from donors footing from 10,000 to 100,000 yen apiece.
“Under the Constitution, you may only be arrested for something that’s against the law. You’ve got to change the law or take some sort of legislative step to make something illegal,” Arai tells Weekly Playboy. “Kaneko’s arrest went too far. We want Kaneko released immediately. We won’t give up until that happens.”
Aside from the official campaign to free Kaneko that Arai is conducting, sites dedicated to the software developer’s release have popped up everywhere throughout cyberspace.
Some of the sites have messages that come from left field, like the throng that agreed to meet in Shibuya carrying nonsensical handwritten messages before adjourning for a booze party where they could express their solidarity for Kaneko, or the other site that held a competition to see who could devise the wackiest T-shirt in support for Kaneko’s cause.
More sites seeking donations for Kaneko’s legal battle have also popped up, including one aimed at collecting 100 million yen and another including a copy of a bank transfer slip so people know exactly where to forward their money.
Most of the sites have been spawned by Ni-Chaneru, Japan’s biggest online message board and a place where Kaneko is idolized for giving computer users the types of files they want without having to pay for it.
But it’s the combination of the Ni-Chaneru connection and the slightly zany show of support for Kaneko that has some wondering whether the academic’s backers are really serious about what they’re doing. After all, Ni-Chaneru is known for its Net hijackings, such as stuffing the Japanese Pro Baseball’s All-Star Game ballot box to make sure the starting pitcher for one team was an overpaid hurler whose somewhat dubious injury meant he hadn’t hit the mound for two years.
“I’ve got some real doubts about how much these supporters are really seriously thinking about how Kaneko was fighting to change what he saw as draconian copyright laws,” Toshinao Sasaki, a journalist specializing in online crime, tells Weekly Playboy. “Kaneko has sacrificed his freedom to try and bring about a revolutionary change in thinking, but these stupid movements claiming some link to him are making a mockery of his cause.”
http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0406/0601kaneko.html