One of the most contentious areas of the Internet since its inception has revolved around how to deal with the fact that much of communications has been anonymous. The benefit of not having to disclose one’s identity has been useful for giving a voice to people around the world who live in repressive regimes, and it has also given whistleblowers cover. The downside has been that it also shields bad actors from being unveiled and apprehended. 

An interesting story making the rounds today on various websites concerns moves by authorities in Japan who are worried about their inability to tackle cybercrime. They have become so concerned that they are asking the country's ISPs to block the use of Tor.

For those unfamiliar with Tor, a quick read of their home page tells you everything you need to know.

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol

The news is that according to The Mainichi, the National Police Agency (NPA (News - Alert)) it is going to urge ISPs to block customers if they are found to have "abused" Tor online. In practice, this would mean that since Tor anonymizes traffic there will be a presumption of guilt on anyone who anonymizes their Web activity. The goal appears to be to shut down Tor completely. This seems draconian, but given the rise of cybercrime, it is a tool that other countries might be inclined to emulate. 

A story on ars technica (which first appeared on the UK version of Wired) details the problems NAP has had in getting a handle on how to deal with cyber criminals. While it may not be a sign of the Apocalypse, it is highly illustrative of the problems public safety agencies are having worldwide - although as the ars technica says this is viewed as, “A damning indictment of Japan's justice system (which has a reputation for forcing confessions from innocent people) and the abilities of Japanese detectives (who are out of their depth when it comes to cyber crime).”

In order to deal with its problems, NPA set up a special panel to examine how it investigated these cyber crimes. According to The Mainichi: "[The panel], which was looking into measures to combat crimes abusing the Tor system, compiled a report on April 18 stating that blocking online communications at the discretion of site administrators will be effective in preventing such crimes. Based on the recommendation, the NPA will urge the Internet provider industry and other entities to make voluntary efforts to that effect."

In addition, NPA will be urging its officers to join hacker communities to, "Create relationships with hackers and carry out necessary information collecting activities."

The attempts by NPA to better ensure they can find out and prosecute those with malicious intent raises a fundamental question about how to create a balance where the benefits of anonymity do not get in the way of law enforcement’s pursuit of those capable of often lethal exploits. Even though for the moment NPA is looking for voluntary compliance, more repressive countries than Japan who already are involved in stifling online speech within their borders are no doubt taking a close look at Tor. And, one need look no further than the consternation the hacker group Anonymous has caused even in the U.S. to understand just how difficult all of this is. 

Thus far, Tor and other hackers have been quiet on the NPA moves. That is likely to not last long.