{"id":66,"date":"2006-11-09T18:59:01","date_gmt":"2006-11-09T09:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=66"},"modified":"2008-04-23T12:19:41","modified_gmt":"2008-04-23T03:19:41","slug":"zakzak-and-sankei-on-2-channel-libel-thanks-adamu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Zakzak and Sankei on 2-Channel libel (thanks Adamu)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Blog. Found that fellow blogger Adamu at Mutantfrog has translated two articles on internet BBS 2-Channel, a hotbed for information, rumor, and (as court rulings have borne out) libel. <\/p>\n

I have the original articles archived in Japanese<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, let’s archive Adamu’s translations.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tokyo<\/a>
\nPhotocopy (literally) of article courtesy Dave Spector. Thanks. Click on it for a larger image.<\/p>\n

More on the problems with 2-Channel<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks very much, Adamu! Debito in Sapporo<\/p>\n

ADAMU’S TRANSLATIONS BEGIN
\n================================
\n2-Channel in a state of lawlessness \u2013 Attacks on individuals left on the site
\nZAKZAK, quoting Sankei Shinbun, November 7, 2006
\nhttp:\/\/www.zakzak.co.jp\/top\/2006_11\/t2006110728.html<\/p>\n

A 30-year-old customer service worker recalls her painful memories:<\/p>\n

\u201cI went back to my parents\u2019 house after my home address was revealed on the Internet, but harassing phone calls kept coming into my office. Even my customers started to distrust me, thinking that I had someone (harassing me).\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman took the brunt of insults such as \u201cex-prostitute,\u201d \u201ctoo much plastic surgery,\u201d and threats including \u201cI\u2019ll kill you,\u201d and \u201cJust die.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were rumors that \u201can old acquaintence in the same business posted the offending material around the time when (the woman) opened her own store,\u201d but the \u201cculprit\u201d could not be identified. The woman filed a civil law suit holding message board\u2019s moderator Hiroyuki Nishimura (age 29, pictured) responsible.<\/p>\n

The Tokyo Regional Court ordered deletion of the posts and 1 million yen in compensation, but the court victory spawed a second round of attacks. On 2ch, there were several posts including \u201cdon\u2019t get bent out of shape over such things,\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll beat you to death,\u201d and \u201cHurry up and hang yourself.\u201d Her workplace\u2019s web site was also flooded with similar posts, shutting it down. The woman took leave from work for a while due to the stress.<\/p>\n

Nishimura\u2019s reaction at the time was, \u201cSince it wasn\u2019t just a demand to delete the posts, but litigation to take money from the message board\u2019s moderator, I think it happened because it provoked protest from regular users.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman explains, \u201cAs of now the person who gets posted about is the loser. The person who actually posts is never ultimately found, and even if you sue it doesn\u2019t make you feel better. I don\u2019t even want to hear the word \u20182ch.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hokkaido Information University professor Debito Arudou (age 41), who became a naturalized Japanese citizen from the US in 2000, has sued to eliminate racial discrimination at public baths etc that are \u201cJapanese only.\u201d Meanwhile, at 2ch, posts made the rounds starting 2 years ago claiming that \u201cAmerican white David Aldwinckle\u201d (the professor\u2019s former name) made claims like the following:<\/p>\n

\u201c20,000 Iraqi citizens massacred due to invasion supported by Aldwinkle (American citizen)\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the profits of American whites, there is no problem with the massacre of a few hundred thousand nonwhites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof. Arudou is furious: \u201cI said nothing of the kind. It\u2019s a fabrication aimed to hurt my image and destroy my position as a human rights activist.\u201d He was victorious in litigation seeking to have the posts deleted, but Nishimura is ignoring the decision. The false statements are still on the Internet in thousands of posts.<\/p>\n

[NB: You can see for yourself by doing a Google search, by entering “\u30a2\u30eb\u30c9\u30a6\u30a3\u30f3\u30af\u30eb” , “\u30a4\u30e9\u30af” and “2ch”. Tried just now and got 1060 hits, up from 1050 three days ago, and from around 500 from when the libel court decision came down in my favor back in January. The situation is thus getting worse.) <\/p>\n

A male business owner (age 40) of Chiba prefecture had his address, telephone number, the names of his family members, and even photos of his house and car registration documents exposed on 2ch. Phone calls asking for confirmation of orders he has no recollection of taking come constantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was targeted because I criticized the status of 2ch on the Internet. If you make an enemy of 2ch then terrible posts will be made [about you] and left there. I don\u2019t know whether the people who push their way into my house are from inside 2ch or 2ch followers, or\u2026 I just give up because there\u2019s nothing I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

(From ZAKZAK\u2019s 2ch reporting team)
\n========================<\/p>\n

Now for Sankei Sports:
\nNovember 5, 2006<\/p>\n

Original Article<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Hiroyuki! 2-channel moderator gives lecture at Waseda University<\/p>\n

Hiroyuki Nishimura, better known simply as \u201cHiroyuki,\u201d moderator of enormous, anonymous bulletin board website 2-channel, who has been \u201cmissing\u201d since last August, gave a lecture at Waseda University (located in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo)\u2019s school festival on Nov. 4. <\/p>\n

Nishimura has faced continual lawsuits over slanderous and hurtful posts on his website. Just last month, he was ordered to pay compensation of 1 million yen without ever setting foot in the courtroom, but he said \u201cI\u2019ll go to court if I\u2019m bored.\u201d He showed a consistent stance of having no intention of paying the damages.<\/p>\n

He spoke freely of what he was thinking while \u201cmissing\u201d at a lecture during the Waseda Festival. The theme was \u201cthe information society as seen from 2-channel.\u201d 650 people, including standees, crammed the large classroom used for the event.<\/p>\n

When Nishimura appeared in a black t-shirt over a gray long-sleeved shirt, the crowd oohed and ahhed. In response to the host\u2019s comment that \u201cIt was reported you were missing\u2026\u201d Nishimura lazily played the stooge, saying \u201cNo no, you see, I\u2019m a shadow warrior.\u201d The crowd roared with laughter.<\/p>\n

The focus was, as could be expected, the issue of Nishimura\u2019s litigation-related disappearance. Last month, in a suit brought by a female professional golfer (age 24) alleging she was slandered and harmed by the bulletin board seeking deletion of the posts and damages etc, Nishimura was ordered to delete the posts and pay 1 million yen in compensation. However, he ignored the call from the court to appear in this case, and never showed up in court even once.<\/p>\n

As to the reasons for that, Nishimura admitted, \u201cActually, there are similar cases going on from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south.\u201d He bluntly explained, \u201cWell, lawyer fees would cost more than 1 million yen\u2026 Hey, I\u2019ll go if I get bored.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that \u201cI deleted the problem section (from the site),\u201d but added his horrifying assertion that \u201cthere is no law to make me pay compensation by force, so it doesn\u2019t matter if I win or lose in court. It\u2019s the same thing if I don\u2019t pay (the compensation).\u201d When asked about his annual income, he boasted \u201ca little more than Japan\u2019s population (127 million).\u201d So he\u2019s not having money issues\u2026<\/p>\n

Nishimura smiled when he received his favorite snack candy \u201cYummy sticks\u201d (Umai bo) from the host. However, at the end an accident occurred. During a part of the program where Nishimura answered questions for him posted on his website and displayed on a large screen, there was a post saying \u201cDie, Hiroyuki!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nishimura shook it off: \u201cThat\u2019s a lazy greeting.\u201d Finally, the lecture ended with a message to people looking at their PCs right now: \u201cGo outside!\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to Nishimura\u2019s assertion that \u201cthere is no law forcing me to pay compensation,\u201d Nippon University professor of criminal law Hiroshi Itakura points out, \u201ca court\u2019s compulsory enforcement (kyousei shikkou) can be used to \u2018collect\u2019 compensation.\u201d He says that running from compensation is impossible. Also, if someone hides assets etc for the purposes of avoiding compulsory execution, then \u201cthat would constitute the crime of obstructing compulsory execution,\u201d the professor tells us. Itabashi wonders, \u201cIt is strange that the courts that ordered the compensation have not implemented compulsory enforcement. It\u2019s not like Nishimura doesn\u2019t have any assets\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

ARTICLES END\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translations of articles regarding libelous BBS 2-Channel and administrator Nishimura Hiroyuki, from Zakzak Nov 7 and Sankei Sports Nov 5. Shows how carefree Hiroyuki is towards ignoring court orders and the damage caused people’s lives by unfettered Internet libel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21,15,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","category-21","category-lawsuits","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}