Commentary / World Jun 3, 2019
Hacking dirty government secrets is no crime
by Ted Rall
The "crime" of which Julian Assange stands accused pales next to the wrongdoing he helped to expose. Whistleblowers should never be prosecuted.
National / Crime & Legal | FOCUS Apr 17, 2019
Examining Carlos Ghosn and Japan's system of 'hostage justice'
by Edo Naito
As the Carlos Ghosn saga continues to unfold, domestic and international attention continues to mount on what many are calling a "hostage justice" system. The ousted Nissan Motor Co. chairman, who had already spent 108 days at the Tokyo Detention House before being released on ...
Editorials Jan 8, 2019
The whistleblower protection law can't serve its purpose unless it features penalties for employers that seek to punish employees who report wrongdoing.
National Dec 26, 2018
Japanese panel proposes measures to strengthen protection of whistleblowers
A government panel in a report released Wednesday proposed measures to strengthen protection for whistleblowers from retaliatory actions by companies. But the panel stopped short of recommending penalties for firms that take such punitive steps despite requests from some whistleblowers. Its proposals include protective measures for ...
National Nov 21, 2018
Olympus lawyer blasts firm for failure to change corporate culture seven years after scandal
by Ryusei Takahashi and Satoshi Sugiyama
Seven years after corporate Japan was turned on its head when Olympus Corp. became the subject of a massive accounting scandal, a member of the company's legal team believes nothing has changed — and things may have actually gotten worse. At a news conference Wednesday, ...
Editorials Nov 27, 2016
The law on whistleblowers lacks the teeth to protect employees who reveal wrongdoings, a situation that needs correcting.
Editorials Mar 21, 2016
If the whistleblower law is to truly be effective, it must include penalties for violations.
National / Crime & Legal Jul 24, 2015
Toshiba case points to whistleblower law's shortcomings
by Anna Kitanaka and Isabel Reynolds
One of the more intriguing questions stemming from the Toshiba accounting scandal is this: Where was the whistleblower? Top executives at the industrial conglomerate, which makes everything from refrigerators to nuclear reactors, padded pretax profit by at least ¥152 billion over six years, according to ...
National Dec 20, 2014
Activist challenges secrets law with anonymous whistle-blower website
by Teppei Kasai
A Japanese Internet activist and academic is challenging the recently enacted state secrets law by setting up a website aimed at making it easier for government officials to leak sensitive information to the media without getting caught. The website, unveiled Friday, uses an open source ...
Commentary / World Jul 9, 2013
Leaks play a critical role in health of democracies
by Peter Singer
How can a democracy determine whether there should be government surveillance of the kind that the NSA is conducting if it has no idea that such programs exist