## (2) Promoting Crackdown over Cybercrime

## 1 ) Improvement of Laws

### a. Unauthorized Computer Access Act

In addition to prohibiting acts of unauthorized computer access where offenders use someone else’s identification codes without authorization and access their computers through advanced information communication networks, the Prefectural Public Safety Commissions will provide support such as the provision of material, advice and instructions required to prevent the recurrence of such crimes, in response to access administrators who have been victims of such acts.

### b. Secondhand Articles Dealer Act

This law regulates the duties of notifications by those engaged in Internet auctions, to report goods that are under suspicion of having been stolen or otherwise related to criminal activities, to endeavor to confirm the identities of auctioneers and to create and save transaction records, as well as orders to halt bidding.

### c. Online Dating Site Regulation Act

This law prohibits the use of online dating sites to solicit children to become sexual partners or offer compensation to solicit children to go out with members of the opposite sex (hereafter referred to as “prohibited solicitation actions”). It also requires businesses to clearly state that children may not use the site as well as to confirm that the user is not a child. In addition to this, with the partial revision of the Online Dating Site Regulation Act, regulations to implement a system for businesses to register, strengthening of regulations to newly establish a measure to obligate businesses not to disclose information regarding prohibited enticement actions to the public, and regulations to promote private sector activities to prevent the use of online dating sites by children were included. As of April 1, 2010, 993 cases and 2,624 websites were registered.

## 2 ) Strengthening the System

In order to prevent cybercrimes from crossing prefectural borders, it is essential that relevant Prefectural Police coordinate with each other and handle their investigations in such a way that they are not redundant. The NPA thus established the Cybercrime Division in 2004. The function of this division is not only to provide guidance and coordination to Prefectural Police for ongoing cybercrime related investigations, but also to provide training in order to increase the skills of investigators, promote ties with the industrial world, foreign entities, and other organizations, and increase public awareness.

In order to effectively promote the countermeasures against cybercrimes, the Cyber Crime Project was established in order to efficiently advance cybercrime countermeasures in cooperation with the relevant divisions. This project is comprised of investigators and others who possess knowledge and qualifications in relation to cybercrime countermeasures. In addition, the NPA is working to cultivate investigators who possess the specialized skills and knowledge required for cybercrime investigations, and employing those who have experience working as system engineers in the private sector as cybercrime investigators.

## (3) Countermeasures for illegal information and harmful information on the Internet

1) Actions to Delete Illegal Information and Harmful Information

In June 2006, the NPA launched the operation of the Internet Hotline Center (http://www.Internethotline.jp/) which receives reports regarding illegal or harmful information $ ^{1} $ from Internet users from the general public and notifies the police and sends deletion requests to Internet service providers and other organizations. The Center received 130,586 reports in 2009. Of these reports, for information stored on servers in Japan, 18,467 deletion requests were sent to Internet service providers and others and in 16,064 cases (87.0%), the information was deleted (as for information stored on servers abroad, refer to P.14).

Note 1: Illegal information is defined as information which is illegal to post on the Internet such as images of child pornography, indecent images, information on sales of stimulants and other controlled substances, etc. Harmful information is information that does not fall into the category of illegal information, but has the potential to trigger crimes and other incidents and should not be left uncontrolled from the viewpoint of public safety and