世論 What Japan Thinks

[part 1][part 2][part 3]

This is a story I saw reported in the English press as merely a snippet of the results of Q6, that 79% of Japanese want internet filtering for children, but that one figure is perhaps one of the more dull numbers to come from this survey from the Cabinet Office Japan on ensuring internet safety.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 25th of November 2007 5,000 people were randomly selected from presumably the voter rolls to take part in the survey. Of the 5,000, 3,006 agreed to complete the survey, conducted by means of face-to-face interviews. The sample was 52.7% female, 8.8% in their twenties, 16.0% in their thirties, 16.1% in their forties, 20.2% in their fifties, 21.2% in their sixties, and 17.7% seventy or older. 26.3% of the sample had children under the age of 18. Of these 790 people, 35.3% were under school age, 45.6% of elementary school age, 28.6% of middle school age, 26.7% of high school age, and 6.5% had already graduated, quit school, or other. Of the parents with school age children, 23.9% gave mobile phones to all their children, 17.0% gave them to some, 58.6% to none, and 0.5% didn’t know.

Q5 and Q6 show an interesting result. First, over three in five knew nothing about filtering, but after being shown one card highlighting that 80% of crimes associated with deai-kei sites involve children, and another stating that filtering can block access to deai-kei sites, nearly four in five reach the conclusion that filtering is necessary. Q7 and Q8 repeat a similar pattern; 70% had never heard of the Internet Hotline Centre, yet 70% could conclude that it was a good thing.

That Internet Hotline Centre has some interesting information; for example, on the reporting form there is one option:

Information which is difficult to judge illegal but seems to be illegal (Example: Displaying child pornography)

Is that saying what I think it’s saying?

Research results

Q4: In order to prevent under 18s from being harmed by using deai-kei sites, what sorts of measures do you think are needed? (Sample size=3,006, multiple answer)

Promote development of systems or devices to prevent children accessing such sites	48.1%
Have limitations on who can open such a site	43.1%
Strengthen measures to make site owners prevent damage occuring (to SQ)	39.2%
Make parents or guardians responsible for preventing children accessing such sites	33.5%
Nothing in particular	3.9%
Other	1.6%
Don’t know	10.3%

Q4SQ: In order to prevent under 18s from being harmed by using deai-kei sites, what sorts of measures do you think are needed? (Sample size=1,179, multiple answer)

Site owner should ban users judged to be posting messages soliciting minors	73.2%
Site owner should delete comments judged to be soliciting minors	63.9%
Site owner should require personal identification confirming users are over 18	57.3%
Nothing in particular	1.3%
Other	1.4%
Don’t know	1.7%

The respondents were shown a card outlining what filtering is, basically limiting access to deai-kei and other harmful sites.

Q5: How much do you know about filtering? (Sample size=3,006)

Know a lot about it	8.4%
Know a little about it	13.8%
Just heard the term	15.6%
Don’t know anything about it	62.2%

Q6: When children are using the internet from computers or mobile phones, do you think that filtering is necessary? (Sample size=3,006)

Necessary	62.9%
Necessary to some extent	13.5%
Not necessary to some extent	2.8%
Not necessary at all	4.8%
Don’t know	16.1%

The respondents were shown a card outlining what the Internet Hotline Centre is, a public organisation established in June 2006 that allows people to report illegal or damaging sites. In the first 18 months of operation it has dealt with requests to get sites deleted, etc.

Q7: How much do you know about the Internet Hotline Centre? (Sample size=3,006)

Know a lot about it	2.9%
Know a little about it	9.7%
Just heard the term	16.6%
Don’t know anything about it	70.8%

Q8: Do you think that the Internet Hotline Centre is effective at guarding internet safety? (Sample size=3,006)

Effective	40.6%
Perhaps effective	28.8%
Perhaps ineffective	5.6%
Ineffective	3.8%
Don’t know	21.2%

[part 1][part 2][part 3]