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Japan Refused To Help NSA Tap Asia's Internet
An anonymous reader writes "The NSA sought the Japanese government's cooperation to wiretap fiber-optic cables carrying phone and data across the Asia-Pacific region but the request was rejected. The NSA wanted to intercept personal information including Internet activity and phone calls passing through Japan from Asia including China. The Japanese government refused because it was illegal and would need to involve a massive number of private sector workers. Article 35 of the Japanese Constitution protects against illegal search and seizure."
Follow the money. The US governmnet is corporation owned.
Japanese "realpolitik" is complicated and a lot happens "below the surface". While I'd like to hope the request was refused on the grounds of honoring their constitution, a skeptic in me suggests that the true reason must be more pragmatic. Perhaps they did not want US to gain access to their own trade or political secrets (wise choice, given what we now know about wiretapping European leaders). There is a lot of shady stuff going on between Japanese government and businesses (where does it not? I don't mean to single them out, though theirs is not a very transparent society).
So, while it's great to know that at least one rich country can say "no" to US, I wouldn't go moving my colocated mail services to Japan quite yet.
The U.S system is very broken and the constitution has been trampled on by fearmongers telling stories about bogeymen.
Protection from terrorism and Freedom at all costs has been the plan past 10 years.
When the plan goes sour and all constitutional freedoms have been eroded, keeping up the appearances at all costs becomes the new goal.
Unfortunately, our police, our elected representatives, our president, and our unelected courts all have conspired to diminish our 4th Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Notably this was the result of the failed "war on drugs" but lately due to the "war on terrorism".
The sad part is, both major parties are responsible for this. There are few elected Democratic or Republican lawmakers who seem to care.
Yup, the rest of the world had a big WTF when they realize the US legalized bribes by calling it "lobbying".
I mean wtf is with all the pretending, just cut the BS and call it what it is.
...refused because it was illegal and would need to involve a massive number of private sector workers.
So being illegal isn't enough, it also has to be expensive and inconvenient?
I'd give you points if I had any. You are correct. We have Senator's and Congressmen who get paid insane money for being a "consultant" to some corporation. $50k and up. They NEVER go to the company. The never submit any info to the company. They just get a check every month. Of course the fact they helped vote on bills that substantially helped this company has nothing to do with it right? wink wink, nod nod, nudge nudge. The open corruption in our country is so out of control it's insane. Hell even kids know it. When corruption reaches the level even children are aware of it, wow. Sad.
I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.
A country that gives a shit about its constitution? Surely some mistake...
I'm glad Japan still seems to have some honour left.
It's not about honor, it's about not being stupid. Why would the Japanese let the NSA tap into their communications? So the NSA could then turn around allow General Electric to spy on Japanese corporations internal communications via the NSA backdoors? No fucking way.
I am just, right now, reading a book called "History of a German". It is the story of how a well-educated, clever young man ( Sebastian Haffner ) lived through the rise of the Nazi regime. The feelings he describes having had in 1933, when the Nazis had just come to power - he writes in 1939 - are similar to yours.
I am feeling something similar, though not an American citizen. I am, so to say, a child of the cold war, born in 1967. The US were the epitome of what was good and desirable, in the Western Europe of the 70s and 80s. Then and there, my political ideas and outlook upon the world where formed. Now, after the Soviet Union lost the cold war, after Afghanistan, after Iraq, after the NSA scandal, after having seen documentary films about the ridiculous "War on Drugs", I know what you know: that the US regime is not obviously or visibly better than Nazi Germany, or North Korea.
My world view is being turned upside down, right now, in these months. Yes, I am lucky: I leave in a very peaceful place, one of the smaller European countries, with a high standard of living. I would say: it would do you good to leave the US. There is not absolute freedom here, either - but the air is fresher here. The same sun that has set over the America we once believed may soon be rising here.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace