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When is a Chinese not a Chinese?: Authorities smash online ID scam ring
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News and Politics :: Sino-Japanese :: Human rights and personal freedoms :: Sino-N/SKorea :: News and Perspectives ::
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posted Tuesday, 13 September 2005
As anybody who reads the papers will know, stories of Chinese acquiring fake identities and posing as Vietnamese, Koreans and even Japanese, in order to secure a new life, are nothing new. However the old stories took on a new twist earlier this month with the announcement of the arrest of Yu Tao, a Chinese man living in Japan who confessed to helping countless fellow Chinese to pass themselves off as Japanese in order to obtain new lives. In this case though, their identity swaps were all virtual, and their new lives came with a charge of 1 Yuan an hour.
According to media report Yu Tao, the 29 year old owner of a Tokyo computer hardware store, was arrested by authorities from Nagasaki prefecture after he was found to have set up a series of servers that allowed Chinese users to illegally access Japanese networks for playing "Lineage II", a popular online game. When questioned, Yu admitted to setting up a network of proxy servers in his home to act as 'relay stations' for Chinese games players. Making it appear that the Chinese player were resident in Japan, and allowing them to bypass restrictions on the Japanese "Lineage II" network that prevent overseas users from logging in and playing games.
After admitting to setting up the servers, Yu is reported to have told police that he acted in collaboration with an Internet cafe owner on the Chinese mainland to allow Chinese gamers to access the Japanese system. It was not announced who owned the Internet cafe or if the investigation into Yu was also to pursue them.
Though largely an isolated incident, Yu's actions are likely to further fan fears in Japan that non Japanese Asians are increasingly becoming involved in criminal activities, and that many are purposefully working to the detriment of Japanese society while enjoying the advantages that Japanese residence holds over residence in their own countries.
Prior to the Yu case, there had already been a number of strong calls by right leaning politicians and the Japanese public for there to be increased scrutiny of non Japanese Asians, and for tighter controls to be placed on visas issued to Korean, mainland Chinese and Filipina workers and students. Yu's actions are only likely to add to these calls.
Despite the possible repercussions that Yu's actions may have in increasing suspicion of non-Japanese Asians in Japan, some China watchers have however seen traces of irony in a situation where a Chinese man was helping Chinese teenagers to pretend to be Japanese, if only virtually.
Home and Away
In addition to the charges that he faces in Japan, Yu may also be liable to charges in his native country because of China's strict laws on game imports.
Under current legislation, Beijing must approve all online games before they can be sold or otherwise disseminated in China . Those caught distributing or facilitating access to games that have not been approved are liable for legal censure.
As Yu was facilitating access to the Japanese version of "Lineage II", which would not have ever been submitted for official approval, it is likely that he could be liable for legal action regardless of the status of any current or future versions of "Lineage II" in China.
In line with possible charges against Yu, his Chinese accomplice, if found to exist, could face similar actions.
Double Standards?
While Beijing may be keen to come down hard on Yu and his accomplices so as to make examples of them, and to establish that it is serious about its online restrictions, sceptics have however voiced that Beijing may be less willing to act again them because their crimes were committed against a Japanese online game network than it would had they been allowing access to one in a more neutral country like South Korean.
While no figures are immediately available, the scale of Yu's operation has been described as 'massive'.
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