Internet slander cases hit record 515 in 2008

Friday 27th March, 09:56 AM JST

TOKYO —

Internet slander cases surged 23% in 2008 from the previous year to an all-time high of 515, according to a Justice Ministry survey released Friday. The posting of defamatory messages on the Internet has been on the rise and also an increasing number of people have reported such cases to local justice bureaus, a ministry official said.

Among the 515 cases, the invasion of privacy, such as disclosing someone’s home address and phone number, was the largest at 238 cases. That was followed by 176 cases of posting libelous messages, such as labeling someone as easily sleeping with members of the opposite sex. In 75 cases, the Justice Ministry asked Internet providers to delete messages in question. Such requests were rejected in 16 of the cases, the ministry said.

The total number of human rights violation cases, including of Net slander, totaled 21,412 in 2008, down 0.4% from the previous year, it said. Of the total violations, school bullying fell 11% to 1,923.

› Login to comment

13 Comments

Mark_McCracken at 10:13 AM JST - 27th March

This article is a mess. Slander is untrue spoken statements, not written statements. Posting someones address or phone number may be an invasion of privacy, not slander. An invasion of privacy isn't libel because the information isn't untrue.
mindovermatter at 11:47 AM JST - 27th March

What a country...

They're going to go after somebody for posting a defamatory message about so and so who sleeps around, but Japan is one of the biggest offender Nations of human trafficking and human rights violations.

Go figure...

Pointing out the obvious....for the ten thousandth time
IvanCoughalot at 11:54 AM JST - 27th March

People who post slander online are all gropers.
moonbeams at 02:51 PM JST - 27th March

Wait till they get to JT
Reicheru at 04:12 PM JST - 27th March

Thank you Mark_McCracken. The correct legal term here is libel and not slander. Slander is spoken, libel is written. The posting of addresses is another issue entirely (invasion of privacy and tortious).
combinibento at 05:01 PM JST - 27th March

Technically you could slander someone on the intenret if you used Skype...
BBLeo at 06:17 PM JST - 27th March

Internet is a killer and should be prosecuted! HOW? Anyone under the age of 21 should be restricted to use it. Majority of people that are sursing on the Net are looking for trouble, and honest people are suffering because of them. 'SCAMS ARE ALSO BIG PARTICIPATION FOR DESTRUCTION' I'm glad that Japan hase some results for prevention of crimes.
Tahoochi at 07:21 PM JST - 27th March

One of the negative side effects of email and other forms of electronic communication is that it gives people 500% more guts to criticize or say hurtful or offensive things they wouldn't if they were face to face. 99% of users are guilty in one way or another. This applies to personal and business relations.
tuneintokyo at 01:22 AM JST - 28th March

Technically you could slander someone on the intenret if you used Skype...

Nice one!
cwhite at 02:20 AM JST - 28th March

what about labeling someone as easily sleeping with members of the same sex?
Soochi at 02:28 AM JST - 28th March

These 515 slander cases will undoubtedly relate to comments on blogs, discussion boards, chat-rooms and the like - the courts invariably treat these as slander rather than libel due to the accepted casual nature of the context in which they were said - sorry, printed!

The significance is that slander is of course harder to prove 'cos you need to show damage has been suffered, well in England & Wales you do anyway. The author of the article should have made this clearer but hey-hoo.
telecasterplayer at 02:54 PM JST - 28th March

The posting of defamatory messages on the Internet has been on the rise and also an increasing number of people have reported such cases to local justice bureaus, a ministry official said.

Anyone who posts slanderous messages online also operates illegal puppy barbecue restaurants and funnels the profits to the international communist conspiracy.
DELTA440 at 05:00 PM JST - 28th March

lol this internet thing is also an invasion of privacy having people looking into say private chats on the net or a private gruop forum or blog so basically their saying if for say you were to play a competetive video game online agianst other people say a shooting game like counter strike and you call the guy a fag that shot you you can got o jail for it? thats total bs