Concerned over libellous flaming and the ease with which children can access pornography online, Japan's communications ministry is suggesting the government starts regulating the internet by 2010.

A new bill seeks to govern "influential widely read news-related sites as newspapers and broadcasting are now regulated". Popular blogs and other sites such as YouTube would come under more vague "minimum regulations" to guard against illegal and harmful content.

What these regulations will entail is ambiguously outlined in a government "Final Report on a Comprehensive Legal System for Communications and Broadcasting", which does unequivocally suggest "there is a need for an active effort from the government ... as it is difficult for ISPs to individually make judgments regarding concrete harmfulness". Experts in the art of Japanese government circumlocution interpret this to foreshadow the introduction of filtering software to control what appears on the Japanese internet.

Despite having freedom of information laws similar to the US, Japan's media is already heavily regulated and subject to much self-censorship. Given this traditional state of affairs, Japanese citizens, newly freed to publish comment on an unregulated internet, have been indulging in a riot of libellous slurs posted on forums. In a society generally aghast at confrontation, the anonymity of the internet is proving a potent draw.

Some sites have caused so much uproar they have been forcibly closed and listed among those the government report labels "unacceptable and a harm to society." Chris Salzberg, editor of a Japanese blog-watch for Global Voices, explains how this has come about. "In contrast to popular depictions of Japanese as the 'humble giants of the web', posters in these forums are known for being ruthless in the extent to which they will chase people down for their perceived wrongdoing. Just a few weeks ago, a site [2ch, an anonymous board] created to allow users to pick out sites to flame and comment on them was shut down two days after going online, due to complaints from site owners flamed by an estimated 200,000 users."

Japanese law is proving ineffectual against such sites. "Current laws have had only a limited effect on harmful postings on 2ch," says blogger Adam Richards. "One of the most popular websites in Japan and its founder has barely even responded to the many lawsuits against him."

However, some in the Japanese blogosphere view the ministry's move to censorship as "outrageous". Critics of the proposed filtering note that such censorship would be in hands of the government alone, and that Tokyo does not intend to appoint an independent watchdog.

Add Japan's traditional media, generally in favour of self-censorship, to an apathetic and apolitical population and it seems likely the bureaucrats will get their way.