Japanese government to force Apple to install content control filters?

Reports in Japan claim that the Japanese government plans to ask Apple and its exclusive carrier SoftBank Mobile to pre-install content control software that will not allow minors to access inappropriate information/images.

Previously, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has criticized Apple and the iPhone's exclusive carrier for the lack of content control on the iPhone. It seems that according to the Japanese legislation "stores are obliged to install filtering software before selling cell phones to minors", but it looks like Apple and SoftBank Mobile will be the ones that have to pre-install Japan-specific filtering.

A spokesperson for SoftBank Mobile has commented that "(in the case of the iPhone) ...the process would be impractical as stores would require subscribers to provide personal information, including credit card numbers, before downloading censorware on the customer’s iPhone."

via: MobileCrunch