Japanese activist challenges secrets law with whistleblower website

4ge3uua3uaxuhhaq.onion

Seriously more forgettable than anonimous.

I predict a one-way trip to prison pretty soon.

Since a reporter would be jailed for printing the information, passing any information over to a reporter, even anonymously, wouldn't help, unless the reporter was willing to go to jail.

Excellent! We need many more of these! Japanese Snowdens and Mannings.

Go Masayuki!

Hurrah!

Since a reporter would be jailed for printing the information, passing any information over to a reporter, even anonymously, wouldn't help, unless the reporter was willing to go to jail.

Maybe they'll pass it to foreign news like CNN or something.

I like this guy!! Too bad Japan has so few people like this, you know, one who give a damn!

I hope we get to hear some news! We certainly wont from the "normal" j-media outlets which are so incredibly lame, bought & paid for!!

I think the fear of being identified as a contributor on this anonymous site will deter most, if not all.

It's a big red target for the govt. now that this site is known.

You could call it Seditionbook.

I think the fear of being identified as a contributor on this anonymous site will deter most, if not all.

Well, that's generally how people feel about whistleblowing in general, which is why the huge majority of people would never be a whistleblower. But, this site, by requiring the TOR browser to access it, is about as safe as it gets if one wants to report something anonymously. There is no backtrace possible to find who posted something. So if the person is to be caught, they will need to be caught using other methods. So this site is removing one possible avenue to being caught for whistleblowing. It's up to the whistleblower to cover their back for the other methods.

Maybe they'll pass it to foreign news like CNN or something.

I assume you are talking about when CNN is reporting in a country like Egypt, because there is no case of a reporter being jailed based on what they've printed in the US.

As for this website, good on him, but I'm not clear of what improvements this offers over Wikileaks.

Too bad we can't have a site like this for every country. The political class of every country and world government organization are all the problem. Yet these parasites have setup a game where they can Do whatever they want in secret and punish those who expose them. It is a problem everywhere. Let's hope at least the Japanese people now have a way to Do something about the secrets it's government keeps.

Challenge through the democratic process, these sites incriminate the 'whistle blower' I am all for open government, having to resort accessing a site using TOR seems extreme.

having to resort accessing a site using TOR seems extreme.

Why? It protects both the whistleblower and the site. The site can be open with the authorities on any information they have, supplying the IP address used to post the information, but as this information will not help the authorities (since the IP address seen will only be on the outermost layer of the 'onion'), the whistleblower is protected.

Good for this guy. It is good to see someone who isn't apathetic to politics or the government (as another poster said earlier), as what happens legislatively will affect the future generations of Japan.

However, whistleblowing or leak sites are not a new development, especially through TOR. Perhaps this link is specifically for Japanese whistle blowers?

In any case, if any person were to access TOR for these types of communications, a person wouldn't need a VPN, but it would add an extra layer of security.

@ Todd "Too bad we can't have a site like this for every country. The political class of every country and world government organization are all the problem. " I agree...

Pulling for you, Mr. Hatta, hope they take you to court and they lose, setting a precedent for others who feel this law is too vague and broad-reacching to be safely used by the government.

Hi Strangerland, I agree this law is misguided, if a whistle blower has information that needs to be broadcast in the public interest TOR certainly garrantees anonymity. Every time I read about TOR it associated with organised crime, bit coin, and silk road. My concern also if this information is of national importance TOR might not provide the reach necessary to achieve this goal. I would hope if I had information that I felt compelled to disclose I could summon the courage to broadcast it openly and perish the consequences. However the situations never occured. It a matter of conscience.

It's Japan though; wouldn't a fax number be better?

The secrecy bill is just one step closer to a fascist state for Japan. This 'whistle blower' and anybody else that tries to expose the government's misdeeds will be thrown in a deep dark hole and never heard from again.

@ sf2kDec. 22, 2014 - 01:47PM JST

It's Japan though; wouldn't a fax number be better?

Haha, beat me to it. It's painfully true. Another article in today's JAPANTODAY, "Why the Sony hack isn't big news in Japan", says the same thing really:

Japan's newspapers, which have the highest daily circulations in the world, are inclined to avoid news that is technologically complex. Like hacking. Nobuyuki Hayashi, a veteran freelance tech journalist and consultant based in Tokyo, said the tendency stems from reporters and editors who often don’t have a deep understanding of technology. And neither do their aging readers.

Strangerland, I don't know if I would count on CNN.

I'm not. CNN was simply an example of a foreign news outlet.

kurumazaka,

Made me wonder if Abe and Co. have penetrated CNNj as well as every Japanese news provider outside of Asahi and Tokyo Shimbun.

Of course, that's how LDP is STILL in power and how a nutjob like Abe is running it.

Good on this guy! I hope the site does not get shut down before some seriously damaging scandals about LDP members are released, preferably about Abe and Aso. But, with the law being as vague as it is, and Japanese politicians able to easily spin things that AREN'T vague to their advantage, I don't think this site will last very long or anything of particular interest published on it. We're going to have to stick to the new China Abe is helping create.

@Kurumazaka: Read, 'A Legacy of Ashes' and 'Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II'. See how deep the CIA were involved in creating the LDP, no wonder they are on CNN.