Notes on the Lawsuit
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Never worked for the Japanese National Government
My work for was Nagano Prefecture not Soumushou which is the national government. Nagano hired me to test their deployment of Juki. The purpose was to verify that the network was safe for its residents to use. I’ve never done any work with Soumushou.
The results of my test lead Nagano to believe that the network was not safe for use, though they suspected it before my test. I have an NDA with Nagano that prevents me from discussing technical details of their network environment. However my report was made public by Nagano and was distributed widely to the media with my name omitted.
In comes PacSec. Nagano had no objections to me discussing the results that were made public and identifying myself. The majority of my presentation was suggestions on how the network in general could be improved and a inside look into the difficulties in performing the test. Its not every penetration test where you have switch cars and check into hotels under false names to avoid the media.
Soumushou, Nagano, the Japanese auditors I performed the test with and a group of lawyers were given the contents of my presentation one month before the conference. The issue is, one hour before my presentation Soumushou told the Japanese organizers (who are government contractors) to cancel my event because they didnt want me talk about Juki Net. And herein lies the problem.
What about the money?
Any proceeds from the court case will be donated to various privacy and freedom of speech organizations in Japan and America minus legal fees.
My Statement Made Day of Lawsuit
Ejovi Nuwere
November 22, 2004
First I should say that this lawsuit has nothing to do with technology or hacking. It has everything to do with freedom of speech. My presentation 10days ago at an international symposium in Tokyo was censored by Soumushou. I planned to present research at this symposium that the government might have disagreed with. However Instead of meeting with me directly and trying to resolve their concerns Soumushou forced the organizers to cancel my talk. What they did was censorship in its most basic form. Soumushou has no right to tell anyone citizen or non-citizen that they can not speak. We should all be entitled to think and speak our own opinion free from government oversight.
I could have chosen to remain silent but by doing so I would become be a poor example to others who wish to speak out and an encouragement to those who wish to censor. My conscious can not permit me to allow this to go unchallenged. This is not about activism it is about democracy and encouraging open dialogue.
I see what you are saying about the right to speak, but that is in America, does Japan provide their citizens with the right to speak what they want also? I know it is a democracy but their idea of democracy may vary from ours. And in reality, if the US government did not want someone to speak out about some government program, etc., I’m sure they would find legal ways to get you not to speak, and I’m sure it has already happened many times here in the US. Our government here is not above and beyond doing something similar. I don’t think we are the shining example of democracy here either that we claim to be.
But of course, that’s just my opinion
Don’t be down and out, you went against huge odds and if you had won, it would’ve have been exceptional, but we all know you are exceptional, so if anybody, it could’ve have been you! Never give up.
Sherri