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Japan to terminate pirates' Web access

Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said yesterday.

Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.

The Internet companies will set up a panel next month involving groups representing copyright holders to draft the new guidelines, the report said.

The music industry won a first-of-a-kind victory in a US court in October when a single mother in Minnesota was ordered to pay more than US$220,000 for sharing 24 songs online.

The Yomiuri Shimbun estimated that 1.75 million people in Japan use file-sharing software, mostly to swap illegal copies.

One Internet service provider considered a plan two years ago to disconnect people who swap illegal files, but dropped the plan after the government said it may violate the right to privacy, the Yomiuri said.
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