Isamu Kaneko, author of Winny, the Japanese P2P software with encrypted networking capability, similar to Freenet, has been officially arrested on copyright-related charges. The charge of violating copyright laws carries up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 3 million yen ($27,000).

Kaneko started the development of Winny in May 2002 and occasionally appeared on the web forum 2ch with his anonymous codename '47', but today turned out to be an associate professor at the most prestigious university in Japan, Tokyo University. Police said Kaneko was arrested because Winny allowed a 41-year-old man from Takasaki and 19-year-old from Matsuyama to illegally download pirated games and movies from the Internet.

The file-swapping software Winny has become a focus of concern for authorities in Japan this year after investigation records from a Kyoto Prefecture Police officer's computer and military files from Japan's Self-Defence Force were made available across the Winny P2P network. Winny has become a headache for movie and software makers here, and the industry has been lobbying police to rein in suspected copyright infringement for months.

The University of Tokyo denied responsibility for the software's development. In a statement, it said Winny was something Kaneko created personally, and that other professors did not work on it. The university set up a team of six professors to carry out an internal investigation, it said. >from various mainstream media *Creator of file-swapping Winny software arrested. Police hope to prove the developer helped others to violate the Copyright Law*. The Asahi Shimbun, May 11, 2004

related context
> getting a handle on p2p
> grokster and morpheus survive: 21st-century technology ban fails. may 5, 2003
> the free network project: freedom of communication. november 5, 2002
> jon johansen indicted: decss case. january 17, 2002
> sklyarov's case: programmer allowed to return home to russia. december 18, 2001

imago
> respect for isamu kaneko