p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- “P2P has never been legal, but well there is always the saying – Do and not get caught!”

The statement comes in a post on Japan’s Zone Otaku.

P2P has never been illegal, and never will be. But mis- and disinformation pumped out in endless streams by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG via their various RIAA clones, such as the JRIA (Japan Recording Industry Association), has on- and off-line media saying it’s against the law.

Speaking of the Big 4, in 2004, “Winny is a Japanese application that caught the world media’s attention because the first people to be nailed ‘on suspicion of violating copyright laws’ in Japan were using it,” said p2pnet, going on:

“It also cribs from Freenet, the decentralised program which allows anyone, anywhere – particularly people living in repressive regimes – to distribute censored information.

“Now its creator, Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old Tokyo University assistant researcher has been arrested.”

Warner Music (US), EMI (Britain), Vivendi Universal (France) and Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) wanted Kaneko thrown into jail but instead, it looks as though they’ll have to settle for a 1.5 million yen (today, about $12,743) fine as the price for publicizing Winny to an extent Kaneko himself could never have done, p2pnet posted moe than two years later.

“It is the first case in which a program’s creator has been charged over the unlawful acts of its users,” said The Japan Times.

“Prosecutors [read the Big Four] had sought one year in prison for former University of Tokyo researcher Isamu Kaneko, 36, claiming he developed the program intending to destroy the copyright system and promoted unlawful copying of protected content.”

Most popular P2P file-sharing software

Now, “The software developter, Isamu Kaneko, was prosecuted by Kyoto Prosecutors Office,” says Zone Otaku, quoting Asianjin and continuing »»»

Kaneko was found guilty and fined 1.5 million yen (1, 500, 000). Kaneko and the prosecuter both appealed to Osaka High Court. On 4th January, 2009, Toshimitsu Dan, a lawyer of the defendant, and supporters of the defendant had a meeting to share latest information about the trial.

In Japan, Winny is the most popular P2P file-sharing software.

The software developter, Isamu Kaneko, was prosecuted by Kyoto Prosecutors Office. Kaneko was found guilty and fined 1.5 million yen (1, 500, 000). Kaneko and the prosecuter both appealed to Osaka High Court. On 4th January, 2009, Toshimitsu Dan, a lawyer of the defendant, and supporters of the defendant had a meeting to share latest information about the trial.

An abstract from Wikipedia:

Critics of Kaneko have stated that the main purpose of Winny is to violate copyright law, unlike Freenet, another peer-to-peer system that Winny is often compared to, which claims to protect freedom of speech. These critics also claim that 2ch’s Download Software board, where the software was first announced, is a haven for copyright violators, and that Kaneko himself had said that the aim of development of Winny is to push the tide towards a world filled with copyright infringement, quoting several posts from 2ch.

Whose side are you on? As long as the internet remains, P2P is always possible. With cheap broadband connections at home, it is easier to access things online compared to the olden days. One way to truly stop file-sharing is to limit our internet connections such that it is only usable for you to check your email.

Adds Zone Otaku, “Note: Currently Share has taken over after Winny’s development stopped.

“Well let us hope that there will be a day where we pay for such softwares to download ‘legally’.”

In Asianjin,  Shunichi Arai, creator of FreeKaneko.com and chairman of the League for Software Engineers, has a
 useful timeline of events.

5th June, 2002, the beta version of Winny was released in a 2channel forum. Winny gained much popularity in Japan as a file sharing software.

27th November, 2003, two Winny users were arrested by a high-tech crime squad of Kyoto Prefectural Police. They were prosecuted for an illegal uploading of copyrighted contents. They were found guilty and got a suspended jail sentence.

9th May 2004, Isamu Kaneko was arrested, and was prosecuted for abetment of copyright violation on 31th May. Kaneko was released on bail on June 1.

Right after the arrest, supporters of Isamu Kaneko formed a website ‘freekaneko.com‘ and a defense fund for him. The fund has been received 16 million yen ($160,000) donations from many anonymous people.

13th December, 2006, Kyoto district court convicted Kaneko and fined 1.5 million yen ($15,000).

October 2005, Kaneko published a book called ‘The Technology of Winny’. It describes a P2P file sharing technology which is used in Winny. [2]

[Disclosure] I am taking a leading role in supporting Isamu Kaneko. I am a creator of FreeKaneko.com and a chair of the League for Software Engineers.

1. 無印吉澤 – Winny裁判報告会に行ってきました [JP]
2. Winnyの技術, Isamu Kaneko, ASCII Publishing, 6th October, 2005 – amazon.co.jp [JP] ascii.co.jp [JP]

Stay tuned.

Zone Otaku – Winny(P2P) Goes High Court, January 6, 2009
p2pnet – Winny author arrested in Japan, May 10, 2009
p2pnet – Winny author Kaneko fined, ecember 14, 2006
The Japan Times – Winny creator guilty in copyright violations, December 14, 2006
Asianjin – Winny trial goes High Court, January 5, 200

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Freedom, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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