Japanese officials in tables-turned GPS tracking rumpus
Print storyPork payola probe plans protested
Posted in Mobile, 1st November 2007 13:58 GMT
Increase your knowledge of the latest threats to your busines
Normally, one expects any story about military-industrial-complex bureaucrats and hi-tech surveillance to involve the officials spying on someone else. Not today in Japan, though, as a plan seems to be afoot for defence ministry people to be tracked using GPS-enabled cellphones.
Many parents are at least considering the use of GPS phones or some other kind of tracking tech on their children, so as perhaps to know if they were kidnapped. At first sight, this might make sense for high-ranking generals or officials in possession of military secrets.
By tracking them, you'd know if they had been abducted for interrogation by agents of a foreign power, or defected perhaps. Or you might want - as with kids - to know if the naughty generals had gone somewhere forbidden (for instance, the bedroom of a notoriously attractive foreign spy. Possibly OK for older teenagers, but probably not for key generals).
However, in Japan these don't seem to be the issues at stake. In this case, it's more a question of finding out whether defence officials have been hobnobbing overmuch with pork-hungry contractors.
It seems the former number-two official at the Tokyo defence ministry has recently admitted to running up a huge tab at Japan's notoriously expensive golf courses, compliments of a major arms contractor.
In the wake of this scandal, Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba reportedly proposed the idea of tracking his people's whereabouts with satnav-enabled phones. This seems to have provoked a good deal of anger among the bureaucrats.
"We're not children," an unnamed official said, according to Reuters.
"They are ignoring our privacy," added another.®
Increase your knowledge of the latest threats to your busines
The future of SaaS and IT infrastructure management
Can Outsiders Enhance Exchange?
The Total Economic Impact of Dell's PC products and services
The best practices guide for application security
Reducing messaging and web security costs with managed services
Win a Samsung C6625!
Is your cameraphone an oxymoron?
Reg Mobile and Wireless newsletter is go! go! go!
Sign up, sign up for The Register IT security newsletter