日本:传播垃圾邮件和病毒视为犯罪

It's one of the most annoying things about the internet - hundreds of emails from bizarre companies flooding inboxes.

上网最让人恼火的事莫过于五花八门的公司发来的几百封电子邮件塞满了邮箱。

But now officials in Japan have banned spamin a desperate bid to crackdown on the practice.

为了彻底打击这种行为，日本近日颁布法规，禁止发送垃圾邮件。

The country has been flooded with cyberattacks on a series of government offices, corporations and individuals in recent years.

近年来，日本很多政府部门、公司、个人都曾遭受大规模的网络攻击。

Authorities have struggled to tackle the growing problem without any concrete law allowing them to track down offenders.

相关部门已尽力处理日益增长的类似问题，但此前并没有明确的法规允许他们追捕网络攻击案件的罪犯。

The new law criminalising the creation or distribution of computer virusesand spam emails was passed in Japanese parliament last Friday.

根据上周五日本国会通过的一项新法律，制造传播电脑病毒、或发送垃圾邮件都将面临法律制裁。

Distributing a computer virus now could now carry a three year jail sentence or a fine of 500,000 yen (￡3,850).

传播电脑病毒将面临三年监禁、或50万日元（合3850英镑）罚款。

The acquisition or storage of a virus is punishable by up to two years in prison or 300,000 yen (￡2,300) in fines.

获取或储存病毒也将受罚，被判处最多两年监禁、或处以30万日元（合2300英镑）罚款。

Sending e-mail messages containing pornography to a random number of people is also now illegal.

此外，随机向别人发送包含色情信息的电子邮件，也将被视作犯罪。

But critics of the new law suggest that it is too harsh and could breach privacy requirements guaranteeing the confidentiality of communications.

但批评人士认为，该法律过于苛刻，可能违反了人们的隐私权。公民隐私权确保了通信的保密性。

The law will allow data to be seized or copied from computer servers that are connected to people who are being investigated.

新法律允许从电脑服务器中截留或复制被调查用户的信息数据。

It would also enable authorities to force Internet service providers to keep communications logs for up to 60 days.

根据新法律，相关部门还可以要求网络服务供应商保留网络通讯记录60天。

The move could have wide-reaching implications for governments around the world as they seek to impose tighter regulation online.

日本此举对全球政府有广泛深远的影响，各国政府正在寻求出台更严厉的网络法规。

Governments are expected to look to Japan to see how well the regulation works.

世界各国对日本新法的效果拭目以待。