日本:傳播垃圾郵件和病毒視爲犯罪

It's one of the most annoying things about the internet - hundreds of emails from bizarre companies flooding inboxes.

上網最讓人惱火的事莫過於五花八門的公司發來的幾百封電子郵件塞滿了郵箱。

But now officials in Japan have banned spamin a desperate bid to crackdown on the practice.

爲了徹底打擊這種行爲，日本近日頒佈法規，禁止發送垃圾郵件。

The country has been flooded with cyberattacks on a series of government offices, corporations and individuals in recent years.

近年來，日本很多政府部門、公司、個人都曾遭受大規模的網絡攻擊。

Authorities have struggled to tackle the growing problem without any concrete law allowing them to track down offenders.

相關部門已盡力處理日益增長的類似問題，但此前並沒有明確的法規允許他們追捕網絡攻擊案件的罪犯。

The new law criminalising the creation or distribution of computer virusesand spam emails was passed in Japanese parliament last Friday.

根據上週五日本國會通過的一項新法律，製造傳播電腦病毒、或發送垃圾郵件都將面臨法律制裁。

Distributing a computer virus now could now carry a three year jail sentence or a fine of 500,000 yen (￡3,850).

傳播電腦病毒將面臨三年監禁、或50萬日元（合3850英鎊）罰款。

The acquisition or storage of a virus is punishable by up to two years in prison or 300,000 yen (￡2,300) in fines.

獲取或儲存病毒也將受罰，被判處最多兩年監禁、或處以30萬日元（合2300英鎊）罰款。

Sending e-mail messages containing pornography to a random number of people is also now illegal.

此外，隨機向別人發送包含色情信息的電子郵件，也將被視作犯罪。

But critics of the new law suggest that it is too harsh and could breach privacy requirements guaranteeing the confidentiality of communications.

但批評人士認爲，該法律過於苛刻，可能違反了人們的隱私權。公民隱私權確保了通信的保密性。

The law will allow data to be seized or copied from computer servers that are connected to people who are being investigated.

新法律允許從電腦服務器中截留或複製被調查用戶的信息數據。

It would also enable authorities to force Internet service providers to keep communications logs for up to 60 days.

根據新法律，相關部門還可以要求網絡服務供應商保留網絡通訊記錄60天。

The move could have wide-reaching implications for governments around the world as they seek to impose tighter regulation online.

日本此舉對全球政府有廣泛深遠的影響，各國政府正在尋求出臺更嚴厲的網絡法規。

Governments are expected to look to Japan to see how well the regulation works.

世界各國對日本新法的效果拭目以待。