Watching videos from YouTube in Japan could be illegal in the future, as Japan’s House of Representatives or Congress revised the country’s Copyright Law last Wednesday.
YouTube isn’t the only one affected by this revision as Japanese video sharing site Nico Nico Douga and other video sharing sites that store a temporary download file in the browser’s cache on your hard drive would be considered a crime.
The revision which makes illegal downloading copyrighted audio and video files punishable by up to two years in behind bars or a fine no more than 2,000,000 Yen or $25,106.
This revised law will take effect on the first day of October.
According to the ITmedia, a Japanese attorney named Toshimitsu Dan said that the revisions will now forbid individuals from ripping and copying protected material including encoded ones, selling hardware and software that circumvents copyright protection laws and if you download intentionally uploaded materials from the Web.
This is the first stipulation in Japan that actually outlaws illegal downloads. YouTube allows no more than two MP4 downloads every hour for individuals.
This revision should cause great concern to all Japanese fans of video sharing sites like Youtube.
Is storing a temporary file in your cache a form of downloading?
Image Source: kotaku.com.au
