The Japanese government is planning to carry out a rather interesting project to deter Internet users in the country from downloading content through file-sharing sites.
While the US government is actively clamping down on such sites following the closure of Megaupload, which has seen a number of sites scramble to make changes, file sharing has been illegal in Japan since 2010, as tech blog Asiajin explains.
A government notice [Japanese] explains that, in conjunction with NTT DoCoMo and a number of government agencies, authorities will release a series of files that are made to look like a popular drama show on local sharing-sites, including Winny and Share, a Japanese peer-to-peer (P2P) freeware application.
Unsuspecting users that download the files, which will be out January 23-29, are in for a shock however. On opening the content, they will get an alert which reminds them that both uploading and downloading copyrighted content are illegal activities in Japan.
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The experiment will trace those who download the files, although it remains to be seen if any downloaders will be prosecuted in a honey-trap, or sting-type operation.
The prospect of getting a note from the government after downloading what you think is a TV drama might well scare a number of people and it is certainly a unique way of raising awareness around the subject.
Would such a message stop you from downloading content, or would you carry on regardless of the government’s efforts?
[Image courtesy of Dmitriy Shironosov / Shutterstock.com]
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