NSA Interception Request to Japan
It was reported by The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper today that the US National Security Agency (NSA) asked the Japanese Government, in 2011 or so, whether or not Japan would cooperate with NSA for intercepting communications through optical fiber cables running under the seas around Japan.
NSA wanted to get personal information from e-mails and telephone conversations being transmitted through Japan to China and other Asia-Pacific regions. In fact many international telecommunications paths are built using submarine cables running through Japan or relayed in Japan.
However, the then Japanese Government led by the liberal, pro-Chinese Democratic Party of Japan rejected the request.
Underwater Cables
When the M9.0 earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, the Internet traffic in Japan drastically dropped to 1/1000 or less than a normal level, but it recovered to normality at the end of the day. Incidentally, among 6,000 network prefixes in the global routing tables used in Japan, only 100 stopped service due to the great natural disaster. They also recovered along with time.
However the following undersea cables were damaged due to the 3/11 earthquake and tsunamis:
1. APCN-2 (connecting Japan to China, Hong Kong, the Philippines, S. Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan)
2. PC-1 N and PC-1 W (a Japan/US undersea cable run by NTT's Pacific Crossing)
3. PacNet and East Asia Crossing (EAC)
4. Part of the cable network linking Korea Telecom and Japan/America.
Including them, the 3/11 earthquake caused disconnection and damage of undersea cables at more than 20 locations in seven cable systems in Japan. But, taking three to four months, they were put into normal conditions.
Anyway, American intelligence agencies would probably never give up their plan to intercept communications over phone lines and internet lines through submarine cables running around Japan.
Other aspects on the Internet and telecommunications interception:
Can China Protect Itself From NSA Spying?
Following Edward Snowden's revelations, Beijing has kickstarted its domestic cyber-security industry. But there's still a long way to go.
ADAM SEGALSEP 26 2013, 11:26 AM ET
This week the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Center of China and the Internet Society of China sponsored the Chinese Internet Security Conference in Beijing. At the conference, NetentSec‘s CEO Yuan Shengang (Tony Yuan) compared the U.S. and Chinese cybersecurity industries. Yuan, who spent eight years in the United States, shows the difficulties of converting the attention to NSA surveillance into economics, painting a frank picture of the barriers to growth and innovation for Chinese companies. He also takes a much less techno-nationalist tone on the growth of a Chinese cybersecurity industry then the NSA spying promotes domestic industry argument would suggest.
Yuan highlights at least three problems China will face:
Awareness. As Yuan noted in a quip to the Washington Post, before the NSA revelations there was very little recognition of Internet security problems in China. Now, according to Yuan, domestic companies realize the need to invest in security and the government is focused on the problem. “For those in the industry, we really need to thank Snowden.” Still, the government lacks laws on cybersecurity and overemphasizes the supply of products through evaluation, licensing, and testing to the detriment of creating domestic demand.
Investment. In both private and public sector funding, the United States dwarfs China. According to Yuan, the U.S. government spent $6.5 billion on security, China $400 million; the U.S. private sector spent $4.3 billion on a broad array of products, Chinese companies only $80 million. Yuan also notes a vast difference in the scale of cybersecurity companies. China’s Venustech, which claims 80 percent of Chinese banking institutions and over 60 percent of large state-owned enterprises as its customers, had revenues of close to $120 million in 2012; by comparison, Symantec’s revenue was approximately $6 billion. The pressure to maintain high sales means Chinese companies have no time to develop products and cultivate customers.
Finally the Japanese Government announced that it never believes that the US is intercepting telephone conversations by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Japan is taking necessary preventive measures. However, having watched quick response of the US Government in the wake of the 3/11 Tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, it is doubted that some US agencies are monitoring communications by Japanese elite bureaucrats and politicians in addition to Japanese businesses.Entrepreneurship. Yuan sees entrepreneurs having difficulty getting into and out of the sector. The barriers to entry are high with numerous government regulations and certificates. Preferential policies help large companies and squeeze start-ups. Venture capital (VC) is scarce; Yuan says he knows of only $30 million of VC investment in Chinese companies (including his own) compared to $1.4 billion in the U.S. Exits for small companies are hard. Yuan stresses that here are no equivalents to IBM, Cisco, or Intel buying up small companies as a major difference in the Chinese and American industries.
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/can-china-protect-itself-from-nsa-spying/280022/
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Act 10:25 And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.
Act 10:26 But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
Act 10:27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.