Illegal surveillance in Japan

Reuters reports that Japan's military illegally gathered information on the activities of ordinary citizens in 2003 and 2004, including those who opposed the dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq. Surveillance activities were carried out on ordinary citizens as well as journalists, photographers and artists:

The surveillance covered some 293 groups and individuals, including high school students, and in some cases mentioned specific names or included photographs taken at demonstrations...

Boston Globe: Japan's military watched citizens: Communist Party

Asahi: GSDF kept files on peace groups

Mainichi: Japan's army monitoring civic groups

This is of course illegal unless cleared by the authorities.

As it were, I participated in a peace demonstration in Okayama in March 2003. If the government has any cool photos of me from that event, I would love to see them.

Comments

Pandabonium said…
Japan also has the "N System" - cameras were set up in 560 places all over the country
in 1999. N System involves high quality cameras connected to a
computer network. It reads the license plates of passing cars and
automatically sends and checks the date through a computer database.
The latest model can film the faces of drivers. Therefore it is very
difficult to move about the country without monitoring by the police.

Some members of the Diet argue that this is unconstitutional, but there it is. We have one on Hwy 51 in Kashima City, and another is located on the same road in Oarai.

Say "cheese"!
Martin J Frid said…
Better make sure to smile for candid camera... (BTW, why is it called "candid" when it is fact "hidden"?)

Jokes aside, I wonder how this will play when I apply for Permanent Residency. "Sorry Martin-san, got you down here in the secret files as a opponent of the rebuilding effort in Iraq, chotto muzukashii desune (sucking teeth).

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