Law comes to one of the Internet's Wild Wests

At the beginning of this week, a law passed in June that made it illegal to download certain copyrighted media without permission received fangs in the shape of a potential two-year jail stretch or a fine of 2 million yen (about $25,500) for offenders. The draconian move signals an end to the country's largely laissez-faire approach to the internet and possibly to a culture where downloading for free has long overtaken paid for media.