ID :
149617
Fri, 11/12/2010 - 08:25
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/149617
The shortlink copeid
Coast Guard member may have taken collision video data to Net cafe+
TOKYO, Nov. 11 Kyodo -
A Japan Coast Guard member being questioned over the online posting of a video
showing collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near the
disputed Senkaku Islands has said he copied the data onto a portable storage
device and took it to an Internet cafe, investigative sources said Thursday.
The 43-year-old chief navigator of a patrol boat attached to the Kobe Coast
Guard Office has also told police he was able to watch the footage at his
''workplace,'' the sources said.
The Tokyo police suspect he obtained the footage via the Coast Guard's computer
network, but that would contradict the Coast Guard's explanation that the video
was kept at limited offices, including the Ishigaki office in Okinawa
Prefecture that investigated the collisions.
The police are therefore taking time to collect enough evidence to establish a
case against the crew member as they question him on suspicion of breaching a
confidentiality rule in the National Public Service Law, the sources said.
They are also examining whether posting the video would violate the law, which
prohibits public servants from divulging knowledge obtained through work,
because much about the collisions had already been public knowledge.
''We'll consult with the prosecution about whether to arrest him or question
him on a voluntary basis,'' a senior official of the Metropolitan Police
Department said as the second day of questioning wound up Thursday night
without an arrest.
The crew member reportedly confessed his involvement to the captain of the
patrol boat Uranami on Wednesday morning while the vessel was at sea. He was
handed over to investigators for questioning after the ship returned to Kobe a
few hours later.
He told his boss on board the vessel that while he did not think he had
violated any laws, he was willing to cooperate with the investigation because
the Coast Guard has filed criminal complaints over the alleged leak, a Coast
Guard source said.
As to how he transported the footage, he was quoted as telling investigators,
''I saved the footage onto my USB memory (device) and took it into an Internet
cafe in the city of Kobe.''
An analysis of data retrieved from a personal computer at an Internet cafe in
the western Japanese port city has found that the footage was posted on the
YouTube video-sharing website from the establishment, the police said.
A man believed to be the crew member was also filmed by a security camera at
the cafe on Nov. 4, when he is suspected of posting the video on the website,
according to the investigative sources.
While admitting that he watched the video at his workplace, the crew member has
been vague about exactly where he did so, telling investigators variously as
''inside the patrol boat'' and ''at the office building,'' the sources said.
Also Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku declined to say when the
government may decide on the fate of Coast Guard Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki,
who is facing pressure to resign over the video footage incident.
''I shouldn't talk carelessly about how it will be handled until the
investigation is finalized,'' the top government spokesman said at a news
conference.
Pressure is also building on Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet to take
responsibility over the incident, which has cast doubts on his government's
control over sensitive information.
The police searched the navigator's residence in the city on Thursday to seize
evidence, including a personal computer he is alleged to have used, to help
them find out how he may have obtained and leaked the video.
Investigators also questioned other crew members of the patrol boat, which was
docked near the Kobe office, and officials at the 5th Regional Coast Guard
Headquarters in the same building to ask them about their intranet computer
system.
Others dispatched to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha,
Okinawa, looked into how the collision footage had been edited, stored and sent
over the network, according to the sources.
The Ishigaki office videotaped the collisions in September. The arrest and
detention of the fishing boat's Chinese captain after the collisions led to a
diplomatic row between Japan and China.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have been administered by Japan but
also claimed by China.
==Kyodo
A Japan Coast Guard member being questioned over the online posting of a video
showing collisions between a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near the
disputed Senkaku Islands has said he copied the data onto a portable storage
device and took it to an Internet cafe, investigative sources said Thursday.
The 43-year-old chief navigator of a patrol boat attached to the Kobe Coast
Guard Office has also told police he was able to watch the footage at his
''workplace,'' the sources said.
The Tokyo police suspect he obtained the footage via the Coast Guard's computer
network, but that would contradict the Coast Guard's explanation that the video
was kept at limited offices, including the Ishigaki office in Okinawa
Prefecture that investigated the collisions.
The police are therefore taking time to collect enough evidence to establish a
case against the crew member as they question him on suspicion of breaching a
confidentiality rule in the National Public Service Law, the sources said.
They are also examining whether posting the video would violate the law, which
prohibits public servants from divulging knowledge obtained through work,
because much about the collisions had already been public knowledge.
''We'll consult with the prosecution about whether to arrest him or question
him on a voluntary basis,'' a senior official of the Metropolitan Police
Department said as the second day of questioning wound up Thursday night
without an arrest.
The crew member reportedly confessed his involvement to the captain of the
patrol boat Uranami on Wednesday morning while the vessel was at sea. He was
handed over to investigators for questioning after the ship returned to Kobe a
few hours later.
He told his boss on board the vessel that while he did not think he had
violated any laws, he was willing to cooperate with the investigation because
the Coast Guard has filed criminal complaints over the alleged leak, a Coast
Guard source said.
As to how he transported the footage, he was quoted as telling investigators,
''I saved the footage onto my USB memory (device) and took it into an Internet
cafe in the city of Kobe.''
An analysis of data retrieved from a personal computer at an Internet cafe in
the western Japanese port city has found that the footage was posted on the
YouTube video-sharing website from the establishment, the police said.
A man believed to be the crew member was also filmed by a security camera at
the cafe on Nov. 4, when he is suspected of posting the video on the website,
according to the investigative sources.
While admitting that he watched the video at his workplace, the crew member has
been vague about exactly where he did so, telling investigators variously as
''inside the patrol boat'' and ''at the office building,'' the sources said.
Also Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku declined to say when the
government may decide on the fate of Coast Guard Commandant Hisayasu Suzuki,
who is facing pressure to resign over the video footage incident.
''I shouldn't talk carelessly about how it will be handled until the
investigation is finalized,'' the top government spokesman said at a news
conference.
Pressure is also building on Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Cabinet to take
responsibility over the incident, which has cast doubts on his government's
control over sensitive information.
The police searched the navigator's residence in the city on Thursday to seize
evidence, including a personal computer he is alleged to have used, to help
them find out how he may have obtained and leaked the video.
Investigators also questioned other crew members of the patrol boat, which was
docked near the Kobe office, and officials at the 5th Regional Coast Guard
Headquarters in the same building to ask them about their intranet computer
system.
Others dispatched to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha,
Okinawa, looked into how the collision footage had been edited, stored and sent
over the network, according to the sources.
The Ishigaki office videotaped the collisions in September. The arrest and
detention of the fishing boat's Chinese captain after the collisions led to a
diplomatic row between Japan and China.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have been administered by Japan but
also claimed by China.
==Kyodo
