[247] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: European crypto export policy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Amanda Walker)
Thu Feb 20 14:54:34 1997
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 12:47:58 -0500
From: "Amanda Walker" <amanda@intercon.com>
To: cryptography@c2.net
"Jeff A. Hale" <csla@intersurf.com> wrote:
> the Japanese Ministry of Justice (JMOJ) is
> about to propose a sweeping new wiretapping/electronic eavesdropping
> statute
> -- which insiders predict will sail through the Diet (national
> -- legislature).
There's more to it than that, since the Japanese Constitution has much more
explicit privacy guarantees, notably Article 21, paragraph 2 ("No
censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of
communication be violated."). Is the JMoJ proposing to amend the Japanese
Constitution? That would require not only a 2/3 majority of the Diet, but
also a majority popular vote to ratify it.
Even given the standard "pro-law-enforcement" stances currently in vogue,
Article 21 is quite unambiguous...
Amanda Walker
