Liberal Japan

Fukuda plans to remove suicide Web sites
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda indicated Friday his intention to shut down suicide assistance Web sites, responding to the recent murder case in which the operator of such a site allegedly killed a suicidal woman by contract. “What do you say to the fact that there has been nothing done to regulate [suicide assistance Web sites]?” Fukuda said to reporters. “As it’s true that [government action] will be effective [in controlling such Web sites], it’s time to consider the matter from various perspectives.” Fukuda also mentioned the issue at an unofficial Cabinet meeting the same day and instructed ministers to work together to prevent suicides.
“It’s not good that a way of thinking that belittles other people’s lives has spread,” Fukuda said at the meeting. “As it’s an issue that must be addressed by the entire community as a whole, we’ll embark on a comprehensive policy to deal with it.”

Fact: A suicde assistant web site can be hosted outside of Japan in a foreign country.

Conclusion: There is nothing Fukuda can really do to shut such sites down.

Guess: Fukuda will enact some obtrusive and wasteful legislation that will not solve the problem.

I regard assisted suicide as murder. I regard suicide as tragic, but as something that only harms the individual and therefore not something the government should concern itself with.

A mechanism should be in place so that such sites in Japan can be shut down once discovered. (Is there really no law now that would allow for this?)

Providers should not have to inspect every site to determine its content. This would hamper them so severely that a lot of Internet business would move outside of Japan. Pray the Japanese government is not really that stupid.