This year's annual National Police Agency white paper, titled "Toward Building a Safe Internet Society," focuses on the dark side of the Internet, including its negative influences on children and its use in cyber-crime. It correctly points out that as Internet-related information and communication networks become more deeply connected with social and economic activities, people need to recognize the negative aspects, and that parents and Internet-based enterprises must work to rectify this situation. This is the second time that the annual police report has focused on the Internet -- in 1998 it examined high-tech crimes.

Last year the police investigated a record 3,161 cyber-crime cases that included arrests, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year. At least 1,408 of those cases were said to be related to Internet auction fraud -- 2.6 times more than in the previous year.

Meanwhile, a record 84,173 people sought advice from the police and other organizations concerning Internet-related problems, such as being billed for services they never used. The number of people who experienced such problems had increased nearly five times in half a decade.