It was announced by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) that they made some revisions to their Unfair Competition Prevention Act. As of December 6, the new definitions of what is considered to be unfair competition makes the editing of save data and modding of consoles through tools and programs illegal. The “data” in question pertained to music, video, programs, and software under the old version of the law. Now, “data’ is considered as anything recorded in an electromagnetic medium.
The other revision makes console modding illegal by prohibiting tools and software from disrupting the effect of technological restrictive measures. In addition, the revisions also prohibit the act of selling software authentication codes via net auctions as well as the publication of unauthorized serial codes via the internet. Violation of these new laws was also updated stating that the penalties include up to 10 years in prison as well as fines ranging from 5 million to 20 million yen ($46,070 to $184,281).
