Crime of Illegally Commanding Electromagnetic Records

• I’m reading Thinking about Cybersecurity from the Wizard Bible Incident.

• It’s about the so-called cybercrime.

• Article 168-2

• (Creation and Provision of Illicit Electromagnetic Records)

• Anyone who creates or provides the following electromagnetic records or other records for the purpose of facilitating the execution of another person’s electronic computer without legitimate reason shall be punished with imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.

• 1. Electromagnetic records that give illicit instructions that do not align with the intended operation or give instructions that go against the intended operation when a person uses an electronic computer.

  • Was this disputed in the CoinHive incident to determine if it falls under this category?

• 2. Other records that describe illicit instructions as listed in the previous item.

• 2. Anyone who provides the electromagnetic records listed in the preceding paragraph 1 to facilitate the execution on another person’s electronic computer without legitimate reason shall be punished in the same manner as stated in the preceding paragraph.

• 3. Attempted commission of the offense in the preceding paragraph shall be punishable.

• Article 168-3

• (Acquisition and Storage of Illicit Electromagnetic Records)

• Anyone who acquires or stores the electromagnetic records or other records listed in each item of the preceding article without legitimate reason shall be punished with imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to 300,000 yen.

• “Without legitimate reason,” “facilitating execution,” and “illicit instructions that go against the intended operation” are prohibited.

  • Does this mean that a poorly designed user interface doesn’t fall under this?

• So, what constitutes a computer virus depends on human intent. (Thinking about Cybersecurity from the Wizard Bible Incident)

  • Why is it not considered a virus if I think “fly” to my smartphone and it doesn’t fly against my will?
  • Is it because it depends on the common sense of the prosecution (and later the judge) and that’s why it becomes complicated?
  • Ah, so “facilitating execution” means having the intention to cause “illicit actions.” (blu3mo)
    • Complicated Japanese.
    • Is it called intentional offense?
    • Well, it ultimately depends on the creator’s intent, which is ambiguous.

• “Acquisition offense,” “Storage offense,” “Creation offense,” “Provision offense,” “Facilitation offense”

  • There are five offenses defined in Article 168-2 and 3.
  • It’s my first time reading the law like this, it’s interesting. (blu3mo)

• Background:

  • So, there were no regulations on viruses until July 2011. If that’s the case, it’s scary.