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.

Note that human rights abuse, slander, shopping fraud and copyright infringement are out of scope for the Internet Hotline Centre. In addition, for all you music and video thieves out there, only 20.0% of the survey think the police should be targeting them.

Research results

Q9: If you saw illegal or damaging contents on the internet, would you report it to the Internet Hotline Centre? (Sample size=1,943, internet users from Q1)

Would report (to SQ1)	16.7%
Perhaps would report (to SQ1)	24.4%
Perhaps would not report (to SQ2)	28.9%
Would not report (to SQ2)	17.7%
Don’t know	12.3%

Q9SQ1: What sorts of content would you report to the Internet Hotline Centre? (Sample size=799, multiple answer)

Information regarding dealing in cannabis or other illegal drugs	74.3%
Information soliciting fake driving licence, murder, etc	74.0%
Illegal solicitation of mobile phone numbers, bank details, etc	72.3%
Child pornography	70.1%
Information regarding group suicide	67.2%
Prostitution, etc, information	63.6%
Information on how to make bombs	60.8%
Obscene images excluding child porn	58.2%
Other	0.6%
Don’t know	2.1%

Q9SQ2: Why do you not want to report information to the Internet Hotline Centre? (Sample size=905, multiple answer)

Don’t know how to report	55.7%
Seems bothersome to make a report	37.1%
Don’t want to get involved	28.1%
Busy with work, etc, so no time to report	18.5%
Even if I report, they won’t respond the way I want	16.4%
Someone else will report	14.0%
Even if I report, nothing will be done	7.5%
Just because	5.0%
Even if illegal and damaging sites increase, there is no threat to public safety	4.3%
Other	2.7%
Don’t know	1.4%

Q10: In order to eliminate internet crime, into what sort of response should the police make efforts? (Sample size=3,006, multiple answer)

Police should strengthen monitoring of the internet	51.0%
Request cooperation from internet service providers	43.0%
Request cooperatation from newspapers, television, etc	38.8%
Promote correct understanding of harmful contents, illegal information on the internet	38.4%
Promotion of various kinds of announcements regarding how members of the public can avoid becoming a victim (to SQ)	35.2%
Request cooperatation from site owners	33.5%
Police should increase manpower, etc to strengthen control systems	22.6%
Promote international cooperation such as strengthening contacts with overseas investigations	20.6%
Nothing in particular	5.2%
Other	1.6%
Don’t know	10.0%

Q10SQ: What sort of information should the police offer rearding safe use of the internet? (Sample size=1,057, multiple answer)

How to prevent becoming a victim of crime	76.3%
What to do if one becomes a victim of crime	70.2%
Internet crime statistics or case studies	56.0%
Crime control information	55.4%
Methods for preventing worker-related crime	43.5%
Other	0.4%
Don’t know	1.9%

Q11: What particular kinds of internet crime do you want police to put effort into controlling? (Sample size=3,006, multiple answer)

Child prostitution, child pornography, and other sexual exploitation of children	64.5%
Obscene images uploaded to the internet	56.4%
Declarations of murder, violence, etc	53.3%
One click fraud, fake invoicing	51.5%
Illegal drug information	51.2%
Illegal gathering of mobile phone numbers, back account details, etc	50.9%
Illegal use of other people’s passwords	50.8%
Prostitution information	46.2%
Internet auction, etc, fraud	42.0%
Illegal download of copyrighted music	20.0%
Nothing in particular	3.3%
Other	0.9%
Don’t know	7.4%

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