IP: wiretapping in Japan

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

> 2) On the question of whether electronic eavesdropping is legal in Japan,
several recent interviews on the issue turned up a variety of confusing
answers.
>  a) Wiretapping is illegal except in limited drug cases.
>  b) Purchase and possession of eavesdropping bugs are legal. You can buy
pens, calculators, business-card holders, even teddy bears with bugs in
them. (Teddy bears? It seems the new trend is parents bugging their
daughters to find out why they suddenly have so much money and whether it's
because they've joined ``date clubs'' and the like.)
>  c) Purchase and possession of receivers to pick up the sounds waves are
legal.
>  d) Actually listening to the conversation is legal.
>  e) Selling that information to a third party or otherwise passing it on
is illegal.
>  None of which seems to have dampened enthusiasm for bugging in what one
security expert here termed the world's ``Spy Paradise." And you think it's
just Americans and Japanese bugging each other? Guess again: Several bugs
reportedly were found this year in MITI; bureaucrats apparently were bugging
other bureaucrats to get the edge in ``habatsu arasoi.''
> ----------------------
> Los Angeles Times Tokyo
> Teresa Watanabe