*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** About the use of the Internet in Japanese elections ... From: Kirk Masden ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Date: 2000.6.17 Dear colleagues: An article that can be found at the following address provides an answer to the question I posed recently (Why is it illegal for candidates to update homepages during elections?): http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000616_362.html The first paragraph reads as follows: "An antiquated election law bans campaigns from using visual images that can reach a large, unspecified number of viewers, and it has been interpreted to preclude not only mass distribution of posters and pamphlets, but campaigning on the Internet as well." A paragraph toward the end of the article reads: "The argument for the law that constrains cyberspace campaigning within its tiny orbit is that mass advertising favours wealthier candidates, Kono explained. But that view is outdated now that the Internet offers a cheap medium, he said. Many politicians are calling for revisions to the law -- but they have run into stiff opposition from the old guard." Another article related to this topic can be found at: http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/news/archive/200006/15/news03.html Mainichi polled 361 candidates via e-mail. 25 percent responded: "83 percent of respondents believe that the Web can improve election campaigns and agreed that the Home Affairs Ministry should lift its ban on Internet use after the election campaign officially kicked off." Kirk Masden Kumamoto Gakuen University ************************************************************ SSJ-FORUM Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo Access the SSJ-Forum website via the ISS home page: http://www.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ ************************************************************ ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
