On August 8th, MyDataJapan submitted a public comment on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' "Interim Summary of Issues (Draft) of the Study Group on How to Prevent Access to Online Casinos."
In this,
- The report correctly evaluates the importance of confidentiality of communications and the negative impact of blocking, and the four-stage verification policy (necessity/effectiveness/acceptability/basis for implementation/legal framework) is appropriate. However, it points out that (4) and (1) are not currently being met, and that it is premature and "too early" to devote space to (2) and (3).
- Examples from other countries do not justify Japan (EU has strict personal data protection, US has strong freedom of expression, while Japan has a core principle of confidentiality of communications).
- Pointing out that measures other than blocking (such as restricting credit card payments and arresting those involved) are not being fully implemented
- Even now, online casinos allow easy payments in Japanese yen via referral sites such as "Top 20 Popular Overseas Online Casino Sites."
- They questioned the effectiveness of blocking, pointing out that it can be easily circumvented using VPNs and smartphone privacy features.
- Supports the view of the draft reorganization that it is difficult to justify the violation of the secrecy of communications solely on the basis of the legal interests protected by the gambling offense.
- Regarding the seriousness of the damage caused by gambling addiction, he argues that fundamental measures, such as a review of pachinko, pachislot, and public gambling, are a priority.
- The reason given for "outflow of national wealth" is criticized as not being a justification for violating the secrecy of communications, since it means "paying domestic bookmakers, not overseas bookmakers."
- While the IR Promotion Act plans to introduce casinos, it is pointed out that it is unnatural that only online casinos are being warned about.
- If "unreasonable exceptional blocking" is allowed, all illegal and harmful information will be blocked in the future, and the Internet environment will change dramatically, the report warns.
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As always, this is the result of the tremendous efforts of the MyDataJapan Public Policy Committee (Chairman Mori Ryoji) and others.
For details, https://mydatajapan.org/documents/public_comments/pc2025-8-14/ Please see more.