June 30, 2003
Digital shoplifiting in Japan, a growing concern for publishers
The Hindustan Times reports that Japanese publishers plan on launching a campaign this week to stop digital shoplifters -- people who visit book stores to photograph magazine pages with their cellphones rather than make a purchase.
"Digital shoplifting is becoming a big problem as camera-equipped mobile handsets are spreading fast and their quality is improving greatly, said an official at the Japan Magazine Publishers Association, Kenji Takahashi.
It's still unclear whether digital shoplifting is tantamount to a crime as the copyright law only covers use of information for commercial purposes.
In a related article in the BBC picked up on Smart Mobs, Toky correspondent Quentin Sommerville describes how young girls take pictures of hair styles in fashion magazines and send them off to their friends to know what they think. The publishers of those magazines are not happy and feel they are being cheated out of valuable sales. "Together with Japan's phone companies, they are issuing stern posters which warn shoppers to be careful of their "magazine manners".
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