Japan law may criminalise YouTube viewing

Japan's legislature has approved a bill revising the nation's copyright law to add criminal penalties for downloading copyrighted material or backing up content from a DVD, Wired writes.

The penalties will come into effect in October.

The Upper House of the Japanese Diet approved the bill by a vote of 221:12, less than a week after the measure cleared the lower house with almost no opposition. Violators risk up to two years in prison or fines up to yen2 million.

According to Mashable, while YouTube policy forbids downloading more than two MP4 files every hour, the file-sharing site's intricacies may have a dramatic effect on Japan's ability to tune in.

Every time users watch a video on YouTube, their computer stores a temporary download file in the browser cache on the hard drive. These files are inconsequential under US law, but the files could be construed as official downloads in Japan, leaving even the most YouTube law-abiding citizens subject to prosecution.

There has been no opposition to the revisions to date, and little public discussion, The Escapist Magazine reports.