I don’t see why another culture doing something differently is “absurd”, it’s clear the person understood their criminality and proceeded to harm society and then society held them to account. What is so crazy about that?
Because the extent of "harm [to] society" is mostly propaganda pushed by the entertainment industry (in America too, by the way). In no way is copyright infringement comparable to the vast majority of other things deserving of 2 years in jail.
Different cultures can do things differently, but some things are still universally acceptable and others universally unacceptable. We do not look at Russia "disappearing" controversial political figures and say "well, that's just Russian culture."
Not all laws are just, and not all laws are established as the will of society. A lot of laws are the product of lobbies from various industries. This was almost certainly a product of the Japanese entertainment industry, not the broader society. Two years of lost freedom seems draconian, I could see monetary damages as making sense.
He was arrested, NOT for the content of his videos or even any type of copyright violation of using someone else's copyrighted material, but for spoilers.
He did monetize videos of visual novels, completely spoiling and showing all the content for free. Kinda pointless to buy it after watching. He also knew it was illegal and the risks he was taking. Unless I’m missing something?
Not sure jail is warranted but I’d be upset if my work was distributed for profit.
This is an effect of Japanese corporations lobbying for copyright legislation, not Japanese "society".
I agree that the word "society" can be used to convey social norms, whether imposed by the general public or a powerful minority, but here it's use is deceptive, because there is a connotation that society at large accepts this application of law as just, and had the practical power to influence copyright law.
The keyword here is "different culture". There is no slippery slope, it is just a (debatable) argument about letting the Japanese do it the Japanese way, even if it seems outrageous to non-Japanese.
Readit News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36016653 - "Japanese police make first YouTuber arrest for uploading video game gameplay"
Different cultures can do things differently, but some things are still universally acceptable and others universally unacceptable. We do not look at Russia "disappearing" controversial political figures and say "well, that's just Russian culture."
Spoilers.
That's what's crazy about this.
Not sure jail is warranted but I’d be upset if my work was distributed for profit.
I agree that the word "society" can be used to convey social norms, whether imposed by the general public or a powerful minority, but here it's use is deceptive, because there is a connotation that society at large accepts this application of law as just, and had the practical power to influence copyright law.