To all users of the JCA-NET mailing list
Please change your email address from Gmail to another one.
(rough translation from Japanese text)
JCA-NET Board of Directors
January 29, 2022
Since the beginning of this year, the mailing lists operated by JCA-NET have frequently blocked delivery to Gmail. With the cooperation of the administrators of the mailing lists, we are trying to deal with the problem as much as possible by changing the administrative settings, but we have not been able to ensure the delivery yet. The cause of the problem and the board's view on the blocking of Gmail will be discussed at the end.
Please change your email address to something other than Gmail.
The JCA-NET is struggling to find a drastic solution to this problem, but there is no prospect of a quick solution. If possible, please change your mailing list address to something other than Gmail to ensure that you receive the mailing list. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please change your registered address to an email address that can be received by other than Gmail.
How to change your registered address
The list of registered mailing lists is included in the "list.jca.apc.org Mailing List Membership Information Reminder" email sent by JCA-NET on the first of every month. Please use the URL in this email to access the configuration site, log in with the password provided in the email, and change your delivery email address.
If you do not understand how to change the email address, please contact the administrator of the mailing list and ask him/her to change the address.
What other email address should I choose besides Gmail?
(1) Use the email address of your Internet access provider
In many cases, the provider you have contracted with to connect to the Internet will provide you with an email account. Your email account and password will be included in your contract documents, so using this is a viable option at no additional cost to you.
(2) Use an email service where you can get a free account.
The following is a list of free email services that have a good reputation for security and personal information protection.
Protonmail
https://protonmail.com/jp/
Tutanota
https://tutanota.com/ja/
Protonmail and Tutanota are based in Switzerland and Germany, respectively, but can be used in Japanese. You can also update to a paid version. If you do not know how to get an account, please contact Ogura at the following address.
(3) If you are a member of JCA-NET, please use the JCA-NET e-mail.
If you are a member of JCA-NET and use Gmail, please change your e-mail address to JCA-NET's e-mail address. The manual is available at
https://www.jca.apc.org/jca-net/sites/default/files/2020-11/rq_tsukaika...
If you lose or otherwise lose track of your JCA-NET e-mail account password, please see the following link and have it reissued.
https://apply.jca.apc.org/ac/password.html
For inquiries, please contact
080-2054-7704
ac-apply@jca.apc.org
(4) If you do not know how to do any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact the following
070-5553-5495
Toshimaru Ogura (Director, JCA-NET)
toshi@jca.apc.org
Platformers should not be allowed to infringe on the basic conditions of democratic consensus building and information sharing.
Mailing lists are services that form the basis for decision-making and information sharing that support democracy in groups and organizations. As a general rule, mail services are responsible for delivering mail to all recipients without discrimination, with the exception of emergency evacuation situations. However, as described below, we must say that the blocking by Gmail is unjustified in light of Japanese laws and regulations, and we also believe that it is a kind of arrogance of a giant platformer that can violate the right to communication through wrong decisions. As a campaigner for the right to communication, JCA-NET cannot recommend the use of Gmail, and we urge everyone to actively consider alternatives to Gmail. We will try to support you as much as we can.
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The cause of the delivery error to Gmail and the board's view on Gmail's response
Gmail blocked the delivery from the JCA-NET mailing list because it was judged to be "likely unsolicited mail"(see note). Gmail recipients are aware that they are on a mailing list, and the sender is not unilaterally sending messages without the recipient's consent.
Japanese law has the following regulations on mail delivery.
Telecommunications Business Law
Article 4 (1) The secrecy of communications handled by a telecommunications carrier must not be violated.
Article 6 A telecommunications carrier must not engage in unfair and discriminatory treatment with regard to the provision of telecommunications services.
Therefore, the act of not delivering to Gmail users may fall under the category of discriminatory treatment.
The Specified Email Law stipulates the following cases in which delivery refusal is possible.
Article 11 A telecommunications carrier may, in cases where many electronic mails addressed to fictitious electronic mail addresses have been simultaneously sent and therefore it is considered that there is a risk of causing disturbances in smooth offering of its electronic mail services, or where it is considered that there is reasonable grounds to refuse the provision of electronic mail services for prevention of disturbances upon transmission and reception of electronic mails, refuse to provide a person who sends electronic mails that have a risk of causing the disturbances with electronic mail services to the extent of preventing the disturbances.
At the very least, the e-mail addresses on the JCA-NET mailing list that were blocked this time, as well as the e-mails of the posting users, are not unsolicited e-mails, nor do they fall under the provisions of Article 11 above. We strongly resent the fact that the e-mails we posted to the mailing list and the e-mail addresses of the users on the mailing list were not only unfairly labeled as "junk mail" by Gmail, but also not even delivered. Moreover, Gmail has no intention of responding to our complaint.
(Note) The reason for Gmail's block is as follows. "Our system has detected
550-5.7.1 that this message is likely unsolicited mail. To reduce the
amount of 550-5.7.1 spam sent to Gmail, this message has been blocked.
Please visit 550-5.7.1
https://support.google.com/mail/?p=UnsolicitedMessageError"
Reference site
Laws and regulations regarding anti-spam email
https://salt.iajapan.org/wpmu/anti_spam/admin/law/law_hourei/
Legal Considerations for the Introduction of Sending Domain Authentication Technology on the Receiving End
Consumer Affairs Division 2, Telecommunications Business Department, Telecommunications Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000499986.pdf