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RR RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHNAG RUEHPB
DE RUEHKO #0270 0320715
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 010715Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1443
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1339
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1956
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2103
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 5971
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2048
RUEHFK/AMCONSUL FUKUOKA 5860
RUEHNAG/AMCONSUL NAGOYA 4490
RUEHNH/AMCONSUL NAHA 8256
RUEHOK/AMCONSUL OSAKA KOBE 9527
RUEHKSO/AMCONSUL SAPPORO 6468
RUEHZU/APEC COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TOKYO 000270 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/J TED BRYAN 
STATE PASS TO DHS JORDANA SIEGEL 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EINT ECPS ECON TINT JA
SUBJECT: Japanese Police Arrest Inventor of Computer Virus 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Japanese police in Kyoto have arrested Masato 
Nakatsuji, alleged to have invented and distributed a computer 
virus.  The search and subsequent arrest were based on 
suspected violations of Japan's copyright laws, as it is 
believed that the virus was delivered embedded in a video file, 
and the tampering and subsequent distribution were done without 
the consent of the video's rights holder.  The case, as noted 
in the media, highlights the lack of legislation in Japan 
criminalizing acts of cybercrime such as the creation and 
dissemination of viruses.  The Government tried to pass 
legislation in 2004 to criminalize certain acts of cybercrime, 
but the bill was never enacted.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Kyoto prefectural police recently arrested Mr. Masato 
Nakatsuji, alleged to have invented and distributed the Harada 
virus, according to a report in Yomiuri Newspaper.  Police 
searched the home of Nakatsuji, a graduate student, on 
suspicion of violating the Copyright Law.  He is suspected of 
having created a number of computer viruses and to having 
embedded them in copyrighted animation as a means of 
distributing them.  He chose popular videos to spread the virus 
faster.  His latest virus was called "Harada" because it was 
spread in a video featuring an acquaintance of Nakatsuji's 
named Harada. 
 
¶3. (U) Nakatsuji reportedly delivered the virus by posting the 
infected video files on Winny, a popular Japanese peer-to-peer 
file-sharing network.  Unrelated to the current case, Winny's 
inventor, Mr. Isamu Kaneko, was arrested in 2004 and later 
fined 1.5 million Yen for Copyright law violations. 
 
¶4. (U) According to Hisamichi Okamura, a lawyer and expert on 
information law, a core problem is the lack of adequate legal 
measures to counter computer viruses.  The Government used the 
Copyright Law in this case, but it might not apply in other 
cases, so this highlights Japan's lack of more specific tools 
available under legislation criminalizing acts of cybercrime 
such as the creation and dissemination of malware. 
 
¶5. (U) Another reason for Japan to pass legislation on cybercrime 
would be to enact the Convention on Cybercrime, which Japan 
signed in 2001.  The Government proposed a cybercrime bill in 
2004 but it stalled in the Diet in the face of political 
opposition to certain elements.  The Government has now 
proposed a new bill to criminalize cybercrime and enact the 
Cybercrime Convention, but it too is currently under discussion 
in the Diet. 
SCHIEFFER