Rules toward smartphone bans vary

From Dec 14, the Japan Shogi Federation informed concerned parties that smartphones and other electronic devices would be banned from venues where the popular board game, similar to chess, is played. As Yukan Fuji (Oct 12) reports, this is among growing moves to thwart the carrying of communications devices, which has already taken place at concert halls and at companies concerned over data theft.

The reason for the Shogi Federation's ban relates to the rapid advances in computer software. "If one of the players briefly gets up from his seat during a match, his opponent might attempt to use the software to assist him with possible moves on the board," some members pointed out.

The federation appears to be quite concerned over electronic cheating and has informed its membership that infractions will be penalized, including expulsion from the organization.

Bans on smartphones can also be found in horse racing. After riding in a race at the Nakayama race track in Chiba Prefecture, Genki Maruyama, a popular 26-year-old jockey, brought a phone into the control room, from which he sent several emails to congratulate the winners of other races. For his troubles, he was suspended from riding from Oct 8 to Nov 6.

To avoid possible accusations of underhanded activities, the Japan Racing Association strictly bans jockeys at race track control rooms from communicating with people outside.

"This can also take pressure off jockeys from people on the outside, who might try persuade them to lose a race on purpose," an association spokesperson explained.

Most live music venues in Japan also ban smartphones, whose built-in cameras can be used to capture movies and sound of performances. In addition to protecting the artists' rights to their images, there's concern that illegal recordings might also cut into CD sales, although foreign artists performing here have been more amenable to having their photograph taken.

During her tour in May of this year, Japanese pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki did generate controversy by making an exception, allowing her fans to photograph her and record a part of the concert, and it appears that the music business -- realizing that the posting of images on Facebook pages and other social networks can be useful for promotional purposes -- is becoming more open to the idea of allowing fans to snap pictures and record live music.

"Up to now, there have been numerous cases where computers at a company became infected by viruses brought in by workers' personal phones," Toshiyuki Inoue, an IT journalist, tells Yukan Fuji. "But the concept of BYOD (bring your own device) has been increasing, and more companies are lending out terminals to their workers."

These moves should not be taken to imply that companies are less concerned over possible leakage of data, but that they are working to adopt defensive measures that can strike a balance between convenience and security.

A white paper for 2013 issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications noted that while only 17% of companies had relaxed the ban on outside devices to permit BYOD, another 30% replied that they allowed some staff members to utilize their own devices on company premises. So while the shackles are not completely off yet, things seem to be moving in that direction.

It seems that in the long run, there's little to stop smartphones' unremitting march toward ubiquity.

© Japan Today