By Megumi Fujikawa
TOKYO--The Japanese arm of the online retail giant Amazon.com
Inc. is cooperating with a local police investigation into possible
sales of child pornography, the company said Monday.
"We take this investigation seriously and we are cooperating
fully with the authorities," Amazon Japan said in a statement.
"We don't permit illegal items on our site, and we have systems
and processes designed to prevent and remove illegal items from
being listed. We are committed to enforcing our policies and the
law for items listed on our site," the company said.
Police from Aichi prefecture in central Japan raided Amazon
Japan's Tokyo headquarters and a distribution center in Chiba
prefecture on Jan. 23 on suspicion that its website may have been
used by sellers to trade illegal pornographic goods, such as photo
books of under-aged girls, Japanese media reported over the
weekend, citing police sources. Representatives of the police
declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal.
Amazon Japan's guidelines ban sales of illegal adult products
and other goods that violate Japanese law, which prohibits child
pornography.
A Japanese nonprofit organization called Lighthouse, which
supports exploited children and women, said it had warned Amazon
Japan about possible sales of illegal goods.
In 2009, Lighthouse submitted to Amazon Japan a list of
pornographic photo books and DVDs sold on its website that showed
boys and girls between 7 and 17 years old, said Shihoko Fujiwara,
director of the organization.
At the time, Amazon Japan didn't respond clearly to Lighthouse
about how it would deal with the list, but it stopped sales of
about 60% of the listed items after three weeks, she said.
"We explained to Amazon Japan that these photo books and DVDs
were considered illegal abroad and wouldn't be traded on Amazon's
websites in the U.S. or U.K.," Ms. Fujiwara said. She said she
believed the Amazon Japan site still included illegal pornographic
items.
An Amazon Japan representative said the company couldn't
immediately comment on the points raised by Ms. Fujiwara.
Write to Megumi Fujikawa at megumi.fujikawa@wsj.com
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