Since the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, governments around the world have been considering counterterrorism measures with renewed energy.
In America, President Obama prepares to speak on U.S. counterterrorism policy on Thursday, while the tragedy in Boston has also inspired renewed interest in Japanese public safety policy, with a particular focus on technology-related crimes and homemade explosives. An investigative committee for the LDP met on May 20 to draft a proposal covering these topics, and the results were greeted with a wide variety of netizen responses.
From Yomiuri Online:
“Obligatory Saving of Web Histories…The LDP’s Proposed Counterterrorism Measure
On May 20, the Liberal Democratic Party’s Counterterrorism and Security Investigation Committee drafted a proposal concerning public safety measures that the Japanese government will finalize by the end of the year.
Given the growing severity of cyber crime including incidents with remotely operated computers, the proposal called for a consideration of legislation that would make the preservation of personal web histories obligatory. The proposal will be presented to Prime Minister Abe later this month.
The goal of the legislation is to secure methods of tracking specific individuals suspected of cyber crime. The LDP also proposed the founding of an organization to train capable individuals to link the Internet industry, the Japanese government, and the academic world in intelligence gathering and analysis for the sake of strengthening inquiries into cyber crime counter-measures.
Additionally, based on the Boston Marathon bombing in April, the proposal included enhanced bombing counter-measures such as obligatory reporting of suspicious transactions related to any raw materials that could be used to create explosives.
Comments from 2chan.net:
アメリカンカール:
Stopppppppppp itttttttttttttt
サイベリアン(三重県):
Go ahead and look at my browsing and search histories. All you’ll find is porn!
イエネコ(dion軍):
“two dimensions,” “porn,” “pictures,” “tits,” “ass,” “glasses,” “panties.”
ベンガルヤマネコ(愛媛県):
The question is how long they’ll be saving it for. The volume of data alone would be enormous, wouldn’t it?
黒トラ(香川県)：
Obligatory for who? The Internet providers?
ボルネオヤマネコ(千葉県)：
Could they really target the computers themselves like this?
ライオン(秋田県)：
So if I looked at kiddie porn by mistake once, am I done for? ((((；ﾟДﾟ))))
コラット(山口県)：
It seems like they can deal with these things well enough as it is. Don’t they just want to spy on citizens?
スナドリネコ(東京都):
How much they’ll be saving is a problem. If they save every single log, they’ll use an enormous capacity, so it’s not possible.
オシキャット(家)：
Saving histories is bad! Definitely!!
アジアゴールデンキャット(家)：
When they say ”obligatory,” are they going to be imposing this on individuals and companies?
スナネコ(鹿児島県)：
Does this mean the Japanese net is going to become like China?
アビシニアン(長屋)：
Is this just another way of guaranteeing police bureaucrats can get lucrative jobs at private companies when they retire?
ボブキャット(新疆ウイグル自治区)：
They’ll probably just save things that indicate a crime will take place or other suspicious ones… Why is everyone so upset?
チーター(新疆ウイグル自治区)：
If my wife sees mine she’ll divorce me…
マヌルネコ(宮城県)：
I’m not gonna watch porn anymore!
スナドリネコ(やわらか銀行)：
It would be risky with stuff like internet banking logins and stock trading histories, wouldn’t it? If those get handed over to someone else, it’s all over.
コーニッシュレック(神奈川県)：
With stuff like viruses and hacking, saving the communication history doesn’t really mean much. Rather, it’ll just cause trouble for ordinary people.
スノーシュー(神奈川県)：
”Counterterrorism measures”… Is there really a threat of terrorism in Japan?
ボブキャット(新疆ウイグル自治区)：
Are the “terrorists” here all the pissed off wives?
