Whistleblowing
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Japanese activist challenges secrets law with
whistleblower tool
BY TEPPEI KASAI
TOKYO Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:46am EST
(Reuters) - A Japanese Internet activist and
academic is challenging a new state secrets law by setting up a website aimed
at making it easier for government officials to leak sensitive information to
the media without getting caught.
The
website, unveiled on Friday, uses an open source platform called GlobaLeaks
developed by the Europe-based Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human
Rights, said Masayuki Hatta, an economics lecturer at Surugadai University.
"I
want to create a secure channel that people can use to transfer information
without putting themselves in jeopardy," Hatta told Reuters.
"I'm
not entirely against the protection of sensitive information, but I also
believe the new law has many problems."
He said
government officials and others could use the website to transfer documents to
journalists who could then retrieve the digital leak with an access key.
The
state-secrets law drafted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government went into
effect last week after year-long protests against it.
The law
sets prison terms of up to 10 years for public servants or others leaking state
secrets, while journalists and others who encourage such leaks could be
imprisoned for five years.
Critics
say the government has not clarified how the law will be applied and say it
will have a chilling effect on those who want to report misdeeds.
Reporters
Without Borders has called the law "an unprecedented threat to freedom of
information".
Officials
at the Justice Ministry and Cabinet Office said they could not comment on
Hatta's project.
Hatta,
who unveiled the website at Tokyo's Waseda University, hopes to make the
whistleblower platform a digital clearinghouse for sensitive information but
said it would not publish anything on its own, setting it apart from WikiLeaks.
To
access the site – 4ge3uua3uaxuhhaq.onion – users must go through the Internet
privacy service The Onion Router (Tor).
Hatta
said he had consulted lawyers and believed he was protected under Article 21 of
the Japanese constitution, which guarantees the freedom of press and the right
to know.
Providing
a tool for whistleblowing most likely would not be punishable under the
state-secrets law, but proactively helping a whistleblower leak information may
be punishable, said Yukiko Miki at Clearinghouse Japan, a non-profit
organization that promotes information disclosure.
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