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The emerging surveillance society in Japan

For much of the last year, the following Denso commercial has appeared on Japanese TV:

In the commercial, Denso introduces a Utopian future where technology has eliminated traffic accidents. The system in development would rely on surveillance cameras placed at nearly every street corner in Japan. When the little kid was glasses complains that the system will make it impossible to play hide and seek, his privacy concern is laughed off as if it was some sort of joke.

Today’s news brought word of an act of vandalism in Aichi Prefecture that reminded me of the serious concerns ridiculed in the Denso commercial:

We are being watched

The Japanese media gave a lot of coverage to Friday’s launch of a special vending machine equipped with a security camera, an emergency 110 phone, and an alert buzzer. Reporters assembled and viewed a victim use the machine to respond to a mock purse snatching. The machine was hailed as a new tool in the fight against crime, with some hoping that similar machines be deployed across Japan.

However, as the above video shows, somebody clearly saw the camera as an invasion of privacy. The vending machine was found this morning with its camera ripped off and the words “surveillance society” [監視社会] spray painted on its side.

It was an illegal act to vandalize the vending machine, but I cannot help but sympathize with the criminal. I do not see the global trend towards installing surveillance cameras in every public place as a good thing. It’s possible that such cameras could help the police find and fight crime (some studies prove otherwise), but I feel that the resulting invasion of privacy and the expansion of government power over residents as something more dangerous than the crime surveillance cameras might prevent.

{democracy:307}

32 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - October 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Categories: General Japan, Technology Tags: surveillance society

The Overthinker

I’ve just come back from a week in London. Talk about your 監視社会…. At least five cameras just on buses. There is probably a video record (assuming these are saved) of pretty much everything I did there.

Joe

Yeah I live in London, camera’s everywhere. England has the most CCTV camera’s per head in the world I think, and they use the excuse if you’ve got nothing to hide then you’ve got nothing to fear :\. I don’t like it.
Joe

Yeah the average briton is caught on camera 300 times a day: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/how-average-briton-is-caught-on-camera-300-times-a-day-572781.html

revil

I think the camera would be fine if it was only activated once the emergency phone door is activated.

Aside for that, I think it is kinda creepy.
Pedro Santos

Every coin has two sides. People are right to complain about there invasion of privacy. But in the streets, on public transports, in public places, there are already other people around us so there’s no privacy to be invaded. If filming me walking down the street or sitting on a bus prevents me from getting robbed or murdered then please film me.
Now if people are doing something they shouldn’t… But that’s why the cameras are there in the first place. Stop doing stuff you shouldn’t be doing and you’ve got nothing to be worried about.
Try living in Lisbon, go out for a walk in the middle of the day to get mugged, beaten (and possibly raped), in the middle of the street without any witnesses, cameras, cops, or help of any kind. You’ll be crying for a camera in no time…

StoneJack

I agree too, can someone explain to me why a camera on a public space is considered invasion of privacy? Privacy on a public space is kind of a dream concept, it does not exist in real life, and if more cameras will help fight crime, than the people complaining should stop seen japan with western eyes.
I live in Brazil, and the amount of crime here is borderline ridiculous. If we had this many cameras in the more violent areas of cities like Rio de Janeiro, man, I’d be one happy guy.
No it wouldn’t stop me from getting shot at or whatever, but it would help putting the criminals in jail I think.

Then again this is in Japan, where crime is already low, so it may not be necessary, but then again, it is easy to complain about a camera when the chances of it been useful are like 0.5%, if only crime in Japan wasn’t so low…
Kevin

Cameras don’t prevent crimes. If you were murdered in the middle of the street, maybe the perpetrator is on camera, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re dead. People commit crimes in stores with cameras all the time, so it’s already proven that cameras are pretty much useless.
whatthe

I don’t remember my stay in Lisbon that bad.
Darien Shields

There’s a vast difference between being in public and being filmed. Consider you’re walking down the street having a conversation with a friend. There are people on the other side of the street that can see you, but you can tell they aren’t looking right at you- they *can*, but they *aren’t* and you know that. Furthremore, you know they aren’t listening to your conversation.

But say there’s a camera with high tech recording equipment. It could be recording everything you do, and for all you know fifty people could later watch and listen to your entire conversation. You could be talking about anything, from sports to embarrassing medical problems, and it might wind up getting played over and over again.

Of course, a very important aspect of widespread security cameras like this is making sure only the right people have access. But the chance of security leaks with cameras all over a city is incredibly high- in London for instance there must be hundreds if not thousands of people with access to camera footage. And heck, what if someone illegally tapped into the camera feeds? Think of all the mischief they could get up to. By following someone on a camera you can learn their routine, where they go, when. It could be used for stalking, planning crimes when no-one is around, if we took it to extremes this technology could even be used to plan the perfect murder!

There are certainly advantages, but there are great risks too.

zs

監視社会
My name is George Orwell and I approve this message
http://yamatologic.com Jeshii

I really despise people like that one lady who says, “I hate that his happened, since their goal seems to be to remove safety.”

Seriously woman, wake up before they have a camera in your house.
RMilner

The main purpose of surveillance camera systems is to divert public tax money to private security companies.

Level3

Yup, so invest in private security companies. And if you bust a camera, you actually increae your stock dividends! Fight the power AND cash in at the same time! Sweet!

Matt

Oniisan is watching you.
nescire

How is a camera going to protect you against anything? The beneficial uses of this are so tangential as to be useless.

It’s amazing how some people’s brain will shut down when you purpose to do something they consider good.
vincent

I’m afraid this battle is already lost – there are so many cameras that we don’t even see in the streets that I don’t think an extra one on the vending machine will hurt someone. Vandalize one, write a comment on japanprobe- you won’t achieve anything. This matter should be taken to the highest authority and we all have to do something about it. The last global economic depression led many countries to fascism, we musn’t allow that to happen again.
Jack Elliot

Don’t worry. This kind of security makes the Japanese even weaker. Ain’t NO Japanese gonna risk the embarrassment of a screeching vending machine.
Random

The person who did it is awesome.
weirdo

“his privacy concern is laughed off as if it was some sort of joke. ”

As much as I dislike invasion of privacy, I don’t think one corner of a public building is any more private than the other…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Charles_Nguyen Charles Nguyen

lol Nicely said.

tobone

Sooo why didn’t the vandal get caught on camera?

leitmotiv

LOL…..good question!

BottomFiddler

LOL at that mock mugging. “Oh yikes, I’ve just been done over. Ah, hang on, there happens to be a vending machine which is going to deafen me and cause me future back problems, also cleverly diverting attention away from the robber! Ya-taaa!”

About as useful as my old man would say, as a chocolate f’ing hammer.
mkill

It’s only a matter of time until they have cameras in those used panty vending machines. It’s all for the common good.

On a more serious note, if the camera obviously couldn’t protect itself, how is it going to protect me?
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The Overthinker

Yes, that comment is directly related to why the UK has so many cameras – paranoia.
IlluminatiGrandPoobah

“The reason why Britain has a lot of cameras is that it is the cradle of Freemasonry, all members of the royal family are masons.”

Do not speak of this any further. We are watching. You have been warned.

The emerging surveillance society in Japan

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