[JTND] More on Indstry Groups Express Concern for i-Mode Dating Sites Blocking

[Matatabi Report <editor@matatabi.com>]

>>>On Thu, 27 Feb 2003 07:58:23 +0900
>>>In the message "Re: [JTND] Indstry Groups Express Concern for i-Mode Dating Sites Blocking"
>>>Martyn_Williams@idg.com wrote:

> Tachikawa spoke about this at his press conference a couple of weeks ago
> (when the first round of stories came out) and I did not get the same
> impression of the service as this Mainichi report claims. I understood it
> would be deai-kei sites only and (I will have to check my notes but I
> think) only ones specified by the parents. I'll have to check my notes
> though because I could, sitting here at 7:30am with my first tea of the
> day, be simply be mistaken.

> If the service simply switches off access to all non I-mode sites then it
> seems like the deai-kei issue is being used as little more than an excuse
> to keep revenue within the DoCoMo family.

[I think unless they have some confirmed info. on what DoCoMo plans for
"deai-kei" sites, the industry groups don't file a petition to METI.]

I found this report from Feb. 6th Reuter Japan(Japanese):

(snip)

According to a DoCoMo source, the prevailing opinion is to make
minors(under 18) accessible only to the official i-mode menu on their
handset displays since there is no deai-kei site accessible from the
official menu.

http://www.asahi.com/business/reuters/K2003020601424.html

[There is a button on i-mode handsets to access a top page called
"i-mode menu" which is the portal of DoCoMo approved official
sites. When a user wants to access non-official sites, he needs either
to input URLs manually or to jump from a hyper-link. My guess is that
DoCoMo adds an option for disabling the URL input window and makes
parents set the option.]

> As an aside, I have always found it interesting that Japanese corporations
> perceive they have some sort of moral obligation to the community they
> serve. At Telecom Asia in Hong Kong in December I spoke to SK Telecom and
> they told me that porn was becoming a nice little revenue earner on their
> Brew service. Later I asked a DoCoMo executive if they were considering
> such a service and he brushed the idea off with a comment about having a
> responsibility and being a family-friendly company.

> I am sure it is quite possible to block access to people under 18 (DoCoMo
> knows the birth dates of all of its customers after all) and it would be
> able to make a lot of money here but this moral obligation seems to stop
> them. Unless they were peddling schoolgirl porn into my mailbox or
> something, I wouldn't view it any differently from, say, SkyPerfecTV
> carrying adult channels or my local convenience store stocking Playboy.

> What do you think?

I think big Japanese corporations pretend to play a role that makes us
comfortable. It is true that Japanese like to be protected by and to
surrender to someone with the power --government and big corporations.
Have you watched the most successful Samurai drama on TV,
"Mito-Komon"? In every episode, Komon who claims to be a retired
merchant, reveals his true identity as the vice Shogun of Tokugawa
Government at the end.  The bad guys who are having a violent
sword-fight against Komon and his followers just surrender as soon as
they hear who Komon really is. Komon wins not because he is a better
samurai, but because he is the vice Shogun. Endings of the show are
always the same and the whole plots are predictable, but it is the
longest running Samurai drama. In the post WWII era in Japan, besides
the government, big corporations took the place of Komon.

Principle and practice often differ. If you have lived in Japan for a
while, you know what I mean. I think it is overly exaggerated and
probably a myth, but you've probably heard the reason why VHS beat
Sony Beta Max in Japan. When VCRs were still very expensive,
Matsushita(Panasonic), a VHS camp allowed its mam-and-pap stores to
bundle illegal hardcore porn tapes with VCRs and Sony did not. Sony
learned a lesson and now applies a hand-off policy toward PS2 software
while Nintendo tightly controls what kind of games are available for
its plathome. I think DoCoMo knows well who are their best costumers
and gave you just their official line (You'd better to go barhopping
with them and ask the same question again.). I bet many parents won't
bother to adjust their children's handsets and DoCoMo won't lose the
huge packet revenue from deai-kei sites. I feel DoCoMo wants to put
all the responsibilities to parents and to relieve itself from
liability and media criticism.

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