Japanese virus writer Nakatsuji convicted
p2pnet news | Security:- A 24-year-old Japanese student who’d allegedly buried a virus in an animation film and then used the Winny P2P application to spread it, has been convicted not for creating it, but for copyright infringement.
He was found guilty in Kyoto District Court and received a suspended sentence of three years, says Associated Press.
Masato Nakatsuji (right, from Facebook), a graduate from Osaka Electro-Communication University, was the first virus writer to be arrested in Japan after admitting he’d created a Trojan horse and used copyrighted animation footage to propagate it online.
The virus, “displayed images of popular anime characters while wiping music and movie files from users’ computers,” says security firm Sophos, going on, “The malicious code, believed to be the Pirlames Trojan, was spread via the controversial Winny file-sharing system in Japan last year.”
However, “Nakatsuji’s defence team argues that the malware created by Nakatsuji caused little damage and that the interests of justice would not be served by imprisoning the graduate student for distributing a Trojan horse when there were no specific laws against it, English language Japanese daily The Yomiuri Shimbun reports,” said The Register in March after Nakatsuji had been arrested.
“Security watchers say Japan ought to consider drafting specific legislation clearly outlawing virus creation, currently something of a grey area in Japanese law,” it added.
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Associated Press – Japan cracks down on virus with copyright law May 21, 2008
Sophos – Man admits in court to writing anime Trojan horse that attacked P2P users, March 19, 2008
The Register – Japanese malware author admits guilt, March 19, 2008
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May 23rd, 2008 at 7:35 am
Well shiver me timbers. Wonder if others would want my collection a tools to make em.
haha do i care anymore , our internet is about to get DMCA’d to death and copyrighted to death. So maybe a gift of insanity and pay back to the very corporations like EA ( DRM maker) and SONY and MPAA and RIAA and CRIA and ACTRA , need a lesson in humility.
What is this reason he wrote the virii?
Does it affect linux/unix?
We love you Stephen Harper and CONservatives…..
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:29 am
virii isn’t the plural of virus. The Latin virus has “vir” as the steam and “us” as the singular nominative ending. The plural nominative ending for the first declension (to which the noun “vir-” belongs) is “i.” Thus, the plural of virus is viri. In Latin, anyway. In English, the plural of virus is viruses. I don’t know where this “virii” nonsense came from, but I know where I’d like it to go.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
Just goes to show you how fucked up the world’s legal system is in terms of priorities.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:20 pm
CHRoNoSS “What is this reason he wrote the virii?”
IMHO it sounds like he was working on behalf of big media, not against them…
FTA- The virus, “displayed images of popular anime characters while wiping music and movie files from users’ computers,”
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
No media industry affiliations? Or perhaps he was let off for doing a secrecy deal. It’s bad enough to have cartels working against you, but when ordinary users start doing it… For what possible reason? Maybe he’s wealthy (from cartel payments) and has no need to download. That would also explain his sentiments and how he got off. Perhaps he could afford a good lawyer too or maybe it was provided for him by the RIAA. Or maybe he’s trying to curry favour with them in the hope they will hire him in the future to do the same thing again.
Or maybe he’s just a total scumbag virus writer who only did it to harass and infuriate people to get his jollies. From the picture I’d say this is the case, plus maybe the previous assumption.