<story><title>Japan&apos;s secret spy agency</title><url>https://theintercept.com/2018/05/19/japan-dfs-surveillance-agency/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stareatgoats</author><text>Thanks to Snowden (who keeps on giving, even 5 years more or less to the day after his escape to Hong Kong), we can assume that Japan too conducts dragnet surveillance. It is the state of current affairs that it hardly raises more than a yawn.&lt;p&gt;Still an interesting article, since it reveals that the Japanese take their secrecy really, really seriously, and so we may not assume much of what they are up to, really.&lt;p&gt;The problem with secret government agencies is otherwise generally that they are notoriously difficult to reign in. They are governed by law, but are likely to develop their own agendas, and since lawmakers are kept in the dark they can end up meddling in policy, using all the means at their disposal.&lt;p&gt;Our ultimate line of defense against such, and only hope are the brave whistleblowers. Edward Snowden needs to be pardoned.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>walrus01</author><text>&amp;gt; Still an interesting article, since it reveals that the Japanese take their secrecy really, really seriously, and so we may not assume much of what they are up to, really.&lt;p&gt;Pretty much all SIGINT agencies do. Maybe 1 in 20 Canadians even knows that CSE exists or what it does. It keeps a pretty low profile, within the limitations that it can, considering that the gross figures for its budget are public and other public info available from outside of classification.&lt;p&gt;(For the Americans: CSE is the exact equivalent of the NSA, it&amp;#x27;s been around for a long time and is one of the five eyes partners).</text></comment>
<story><title>Japan&apos;s secret spy agency</title><url>https://theintercept.com/2018/05/19/japan-dfs-surveillance-agency/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stareatgoats</author><text>Thanks to Snowden (who keeps on giving, even 5 years more or less to the day after his escape to Hong Kong), we can assume that Japan too conducts dragnet surveillance. It is the state of current affairs that it hardly raises more than a yawn.&lt;p&gt;Still an interesting article, since it reveals that the Japanese take their secrecy really, really seriously, and so we may not assume much of what they are up to, really.&lt;p&gt;The problem with secret government agencies is otherwise generally that they are notoriously difficult to reign in. They are governed by law, but are likely to develop their own agendas, and since lawmakers are kept in the dark they can end up meddling in policy, using all the means at their disposal.&lt;p&gt;Our ultimate line of defense against such, and only hope are the brave whistleblowers. Edward Snowden needs to be pardoned.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>marricks</author><text>Are they governed by law? I&amp;#x27;m starting to feel that no one follows the law, or spirit of it at least, unless they have to or can write the laws themselves.&lt;p&gt;Corporations write their own laws through lobbyists and circumvent it when they can. Top secret agents don&amp;#x27;t really have anyone they are accountable to since they&amp;#x27;re so top secrete there isn&amp;#x27;t any public oversight.&lt;p&gt;For some reason the secret courts convened to check them (FISA) are just rubber stamp mills too because hey, those don&amp;#x27;t really have any oversight either.&lt;p&gt;It really doesn&amp;#x27;t seem like this stuff will get any better without a ton more oversight. It&amp;#x27;ll be interesting to see if the Japanese people are more appalled by this and more willing to stand up.</text></comment>