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Anonymous hackers pick up litter in Tokyo protest
July 8, 2012
Allies of global hacker group Anonymous have put on their masks and picked up litter in a Tokyo park as a protest against tough illegal download laws.
The 80-strong collective said yesterday’s protest was against Japan’s tougher laws against illegal downloads.
In light rain, they took part in an “anonymous cleaning service” for one hour in a park and on pavements in the shopping and entertainment hub of Shibuya, a change from the group’s trademark website attacks.
They were dressed in black and wore masks of Guy Fawkes, the central figure in England’s 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up parliament, which have become a symbol of protests by the loosely linked alliance around the world.
Last month, Japan’s parliament enacted new copyright laws that could mean jail for anyone illegally downloading copyrighted music and movies.
On June 26, websites of the Japanese finance ministry, the Supreme Court and other public offices were defaced or brought down after an Anonymous online statement denounced the new laws.
The statement claimed Japan’s recording industry and other content providers were now pushing internet service providers to implement surveillance technology that will spy on every single Internet user in Japan.
The group, which assembled for the clean-up service in Tokyo, attributed the cyber attacks to other Anonymous elements around the world.
“We prefer constructive and productive solutions,” the group said in a statement. “We want to make our fellow citizens aware of the problem with a productive message.”
Anti-nuclear protesters gather around the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Friday.
Thousands protest Japan’s return to atomic energy
June 24, 2012
Around 20,000 people gathered in Tokyo to protest the Japanese government’s unilateral decision to restart two nuclear reactors. Many in Japan are wary of nuclear power, as memories of last year’s devastating Fukushima disaster as still fresh.
Slogans chanted by protesters included “No to the restart!”, while posters brandished “No nukes”. The rally, organized in front of the prime minister’s residence, was attended by a number of public figures, including Nobel-prize winning author Kenzaburo Oe, investigative journalist Satoshi Kamata and electronic music pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame.
Activists promised to hold another anti-nuclear rally next week.
Opposition to the government’s decision to restart the reactors just a month after the country’s last nuclear power plants were shut down has been on the rise. Activists managed to gather some 7.5 million signatures through an online petition.
Last week, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda gave the go-ahead to restart two nuclear reactors at the Oi plant in western Japan. The decision was taken in conjunction with local authorities, though Noda fell short on his promise to not act without public backing.
