온라인문화와 악성정보, 그 대응에 관한 고찰 -일본에서의 자율규제를 통한 대응을 중심으로-

The vision of a 'ubiquitous network society' suggests a world in which information can be accessed from anywhere, at anytime, by anyone and anything. New and exciting technologies are making this vision a reality. The word 'ubiquitous' is derived from a Latin root and means 'existing everywhere'. It has been used in conjunction with terms such as pervasive or ambient. Early forms of pervasive technologies can be seen in mobile telephony, and to some extent in the broadband internet. But in the future, ubiquitous networks will extend beyond person-to-person and person-to-object connectivity. However, on the other side of internet, lots of malicious information have made human, especially children and teenagers, fall into danger. They are easily led into temptation such as pornography, gambling and so on. It is proper to divide malicious information into illegal and not illegal information. Governments have directly controlled malicious information by way of administrative operation in many countries. But direct control on information can be the infringement on right to know. Therefore, many countries adopt self-regulation system. In Japan, there are many self-regulation systems which is supported by laws such as guide lines for providers, internet hot line center, and so on. And Japanese government encouraged internet users and providers to regulate themselves. This paper focused on the system of self-regulation in Japan on the ground that self-regulation is more effective in order to protect young people against malicious information on internet than direct control by government, and described firstly the notion, merits and demerits(Ⅱ), and then on-line malicious information and self-regulation in Japan(Ⅲ).