The State of Information after the Fukushima Disaster - Participatory Mapping: New Data, New Cartography - page 83

governmental agencies in charge of nuclear issues 12 “to pass
[…] the data to one another like a hot potato, with none of
them wanting to accept responsibility for its results” 13 . Prime
Minister Naoto Kan confirmed this on June 17, 2011 by
stating that he had no idea what the information delivered
by SPEEDI meant and could therefore not make any
decisions based on it 14 .
The Japanese government's effort to control information
was taken a step further with the Computer Network
Monitoring Law, adopted by the Japanese Parliament on
June 11, 2011. The law was to monitor online publication
platforms (such as blogs and Twitter accounts) to identify
“incorrect and inappropriate information that would lead to
false rumors” 15 .
5.2. Flaws in the published data on radiation
Despite the organizational problems in the government
and its efforts to control the information on the development
of the situation, some data on radiation were available
online. Indeed, the MEXT ministry would publish
measurements from the SPEEDI network for all the other
districts. The NISA (National Industrial Safety Agency) or
other international bodies such as the IAEA (International
Atomic Energy Agency, affiliated with the UN) also disclosed
radiation measurements. Finally, the districts themselves
were free to publish the data from their own sensors. So it
cannot be said that there was complete silence. Nevertheless,
12 MEXT and two other bodies responsible for the regulation of nuclear
regulation in Japan: Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) and
Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC).
13 Toshiso Kosako, New York Times , 8 August 2011. See: www.nytimes.
com/2011/08/09/world/asia/09japan.html?_r=1.
14 www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_fukushima-la-reaction-des-autorites-
japonaises-anouveau-mise-en-cause?id=6575373.
15 See: http://blog.Safecast.org/2011/07/japan-govt.