Taking the stand
On Tuesday morning in Japan I took stand for two hours. I was questioned first by my lawyer who is basically the Johnny Cochran of Japan. His questions confirmed my written statement of events. There are three judges in this case. Japan has no juror system. I sat at a table facing the three judges with a court translator sitting to my left. On the right side of the court were the defense team seated at another table. On the left side of the court was my lawyer.
The second hour I was questioned by the defense team who basically asked me multiple times to reconfirm the events. Looking for a change in my story. They also focused on a press release my Japanese employee at SecurityLab sent out to Japanese media where I was quoted as saying I planned to “clarify misconceptions about our security audit for Nagano” implying that in order to clarify I could conceivably have released technical details that were not already public knowledge. I gave an example of media reports that said our audit team was able to compromise the national ID system using WiFi which was not true. That was an example of something that was technical and public knowledge that I wanted to clarify. After I finished on the stand I had pains up and down my back. It was a very stressful two hours and I was glad that I was finished.
After lunch we continued and a staff member from SIDC (a Japanese consulting firm) took the stand for the defense. SIDC was one of the major organizers responsible for putting the conference together. We argued that they submitted to Soumushou pressure to cancel my presentation. The SIDC employee crumbled on the witness stand basically admitting that it wasn’t entirely his decision to cancel my presentation, but not admitting that Soumushou asked him to.
Next was a Soumushou employee who was one of the most arrogant people I have ever seen. This worried me. This specific group of employees at Soumushou are extremely arrogant. I realized while watching him testify that they believe they can operate without impunity. He was well trained for his testimony and spoke like a bureaucrat who was expert at avoiding responsibility. He held up very well on the stand in comparison to the SIDC employee. So when he said multiple times that the SIDC staff was inept and that they alone made the mistake of canceling my presentation it almost seemed believable. Though comparing the personality types and attitudes of the Soumushou employee and the SIDC employee its clear to see the power relationship that would allow Soumushou to force SIDC to cancel my presentation. Takamura did make a huge mistake in admitting that if my presentation wasn’t modified he threatend SIDC that Soumushou would pull support from the conference. Although he had concerns 1 week before the conference up until I was about to walk on stage, they never pulled their support. I think they used this support as leverage to force SIDC to bend to their will.
It was a very stressful day for me and I live a fairly high paced lifestyle. Japanese career bureaucrats have a lot to lose in a case like this. For Takamura san the Soumushou employee who we claim is responsible for censoring my presentation, winning or loosing this case will be a career changing event. If he looses he will likely be fired as he should be. If he wins he will likely earn a promotion, and at 35 it will be a dangerous precedent to allow him to climb the bureaucratic ladder. After meeting him in person and seeing how little he actually cares about public safety and the citizens of Japan I’m convinced he is responsible for censoring my presentation and that he should be fired from Soumushou.
After the court I went to my hotel to sleep. It was a long day.