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1-yr imprisonment demanded for creator of Winny software+
[July 03, 2006]

1-yr imprisonment demanded for creator of Winny software+


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) KYOTO, July 3_(Kyodo) _ Prosecutors on Monday demanded the creator of a program for anonymous file-sharing over the Internet be sentenced to one year in prison for developing the Winny peer-to-peer program, saying he knew it would facilitate Internet piracy.



The Winny software developed by Isamu Kaneko, 35, caused serious damage, such as violations of copyrights, the prosecutors said in their closing argument.

"He promoted copyrights violations, and (the program development) had grave social impact with similar cases following it," they said.


Kaneko, a former assistant researcher at the University of Tokyo, has pleaded not guilty, saying during court hearings he developed the software for the purpose of technological analysis, and that he had no intention of assisting people's copyrights law violations.

Kaneko's court hearing will conclude in September following closing argument by his defense counsel.

According to the indictment, Kaneko developed Winny in May 2002 and posted it on his website, enabling people to download movies and other files illegally through the software.

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