????日本電子巨頭在手持設(shè)備之戰(zhàn)輸給韓國(guó)和美國(guó)之后，急需重塑自我。這一次，他們看來(lái)打算扮演守護(hù)神角色。

????日本最大的高科技公司正在利用國(guó)民對(duì)犯罪或恐怖主義的恐慌心理，投入巨資打造行政命令和控制、監(jiān)視和邊境檢查系統(tǒng)。它的成果就是一系列極其復(fù)雜、令人難以想象的間諜和監(jiān)視工具。

????“日本公司在開(kāi)發(fā)創(chuàng)新性監(jiān)控技術(shù)和實(shí)施方面已處在全球領(lǐng)先的地位，”加拿大皇后大學(xué)(University of Queens)在日本監(jiān)控研究期刊《公司與政府監(jiān)控》(Company/Governmental Surveillance)發(fā)布的一份研究報(bào)告這樣寫(xiě)道。作為該領(lǐng)域的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，日本的NEC公司投入了10%的研發(fā)支出來(lái)開(kāi)發(fā)這些系統(tǒng)。

????“傳統(tǒng)上，日本政府一直熱衷于保護(hù)和培育國(guó)內(nèi)電子企業(yè)，希望它們成為日本經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的推動(dòng)力，”日本關(guān)西大學(xué)( Kwansei University)監(jiān)控研究員小島清解釋說(shuō)?！八?，對(duì)于它們來(lái)說(shuō)，在日本和中國(guó)的政治和軍事緊張局勢(shì)持續(xù)加深，公眾深感擔(dān)憂和恐懼之際，開(kāi)發(fā)、推出更具侵入性的監(jiān)控技術(shù)是件非常容易的事情?！?/p>

????不過(guò)，這也并不是日本公司的專(zhuān)屬領(lǐng)地。電子偵察和監(jiān)視設(shè)備的部署正在為世界各地的相關(guān)公司帶來(lái)滾滾財(cái)源。根據(jù)高德納咨詢(xún)公司(Gartner)的研究，2012年，在“新威脅和新工作方式”的驅(qū)動(dòng)下，全球安全軟件市場(chǎng)增長(zhǎng)了7.9%。

????然而，日本企業(yè)似乎正處于這個(gè)市場(chǎng)空間的先鋒行列。最近在東京舉行的一次NEC技術(shù)展上，我們看不到這家公司昔日的代表性產(chǎn)品，比如電腦顯示器和筆記本電腦。取而代之的，是一些專(zhuān)門(mén)陳列數(shù)據(jù)監(jiān)視和人臉識(shí)別系統(tǒng)的展臺(tái)。NEC的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)口號(hào)聲稱(chēng)，這些都是用來(lái)“保障生命和財(cái)產(chǎn)安全的技術(shù)。”

????這些引人注目的“安全解決方案”包括旨在窺探員工的方案（業(yè)內(nèi)的行話叫“性能監(jiān)控”），和一個(gè)被稱(chēng)為心理健康檢查工具(Mental Health Check Tool)的應(yīng)用程序。隨著我們?cè)絹?lái)越習(xí)慣企業(yè)和國(guó)家利用“信息時(shí)代”的工具來(lái)審查我們的一言一行，用Facebook公司掌門(mén)人馬克?扎克伯格的話說(shuō)就是，隱私不再是一種社會(huì)規(guī)范。而日本的技術(shù)似乎正在向前邁出一大步：讓企業(yè)監(jiān)控我們的情緒。

????NEC開(kāi)發(fā)的這種新型心理健康檢查工具現(xiàn)已在好幾家沒(méi)有公開(kāi)名稱(chēng)的日本藍(lán)籌公司投入使用。這種基于電腦運(yùn)行的工具不僅可以顯示任何潛在的心理問(wèn)題，還能夠監(jiān)視員工的心理穩(wěn)定程度。這一點(diǎn)對(duì)于日本的管理者來(lái)說(shuō)或許是不可或缺的，因?yàn)樗麄儜?yīng)對(duì)的是發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家中最勞累、壓力最大的勞動(dòng)力群體之一（在富裕國(guó)家中，日本的自殺率僅次于韓國(guó)，員工流失率幾乎是美國(guó)的兩倍）。一份宣傳單聲稱(chēng)，這種檢查工具可以跟工人的“考勤數(shù)據(jù)”協(xié)同運(yùn)行，它的好處包括解決“生產(chǎn)力損失和白費(fèi)的成本降低機(jī)會(huì)”等問(wèn)題。

????日本的監(jiān)視技術(shù)還包括檢查火車(chē)站售票員笑容質(zhì)量的工具，以及人臉識(shí)別廣告板。早在2002年，日本的零售商就可以通過(guò)GPS技術(shù)跟蹤銷(xiāo)售人員。

????這些產(chǎn)品的推出既沒(méi)有引發(fā)媒體一片嘩然，也沒(méi)有招致普通民眾的抗議。一些人聲稱(chēng)，對(duì)于雇主的這種順從意味著，日本成為一個(gè)全面監(jiān)控型社會(huì)的條件比大多數(shù)國(guó)家更加成熟。與之形成鮮明對(duì)比的是，美國(guó)國(guó)家安全局(NSA)曾經(jīng)對(duì)美國(guó)公民實(shí)施大規(guī)模電子監(jiān)控的消息一經(jīng)披露立即引發(fā)美國(guó)社會(huì)各界強(qiáng)烈反彈。

????Having ceded the battle of the gadgets to Korea and the U.S., Japan's electronics titans need to reinvent themselves -- this time as our great protectors, apparently.

????Harnessing moral panics, such as fear of crime or terrorism, Japan's largest tech companies are growing and investing heavily in systems for executive command and control, surveillance, and border checks. The results are the most sophisticated spy and monitoring tools ever conceived.

????"Japanese companies are the leaders in creating innovative surveillance technology and implementation," according to a report from the University of Queens in Canada, published in Company/Governmental Surveillance in Japan, a journal of surveillance studies. Japan's NEC, a leader in the field, now dedicates 10% of its R&D spending to developing these systems.

????"Traditionally, Japanese governments have been keen to protect and cultivate domestic electronic companies so that they become the driving force for Japanese economic development," explains surveillance researcher Kiyoshi Abe at Kwansei University in Japan. "So it's easy for them to develop and introduce more invasive surveillance technology, utilizing public worry and fear around rising political-military tensions between Japan and China."

????Nor is this exclusively Japan Inc.'s agenda. Corporations worldwide are cashing in on deployment of electronic spying and monitoring. The global security software market grew 7.9% in 2012, according to research from Gartner, driven by "new threats and working practices."

????Japanese companies, however, appear to be among the vanguard in this space. At a recent NEC tech exhibition in Tokyo, absent were the computer monitors and laptops that once characterized the firm. In their place were booths dedicated to data surveillance and face recognition systems marketed as "technologies to safeguard lives and property."

????The eye-catching "safety solutions" include programs aimed at snooping on workers -- known as "performance monitoring" in the industry -- and an application dubbed the Mental Health Check Tool. As we grow accustomed to business and the state harnessing the tools of the Information Age to scrutinize everything we do and say -- privacy is no longer a social norm, claims Facebook's (FB) Mark Zuckerberg. Japanese technology, it seems, is going one step further: enabling corporations to monitor our feelings.

????Now in use by several undisclosed blue chip companies in Japan, NEC's new health tool is PC-based and can monitor the mental stability of a workforce while flagging any potential psychological problems. For Japanese management, this could prove indispensable, dealing, as they do, with one of the most overworked and stressed workforces in the developed world. (Japan is second only to South Korea in suicide rates among wealthy nations, suffering an attrition rate nearly double that of the U.S.). According to a promotional leaflet for the app, the check tool works in tandem with workers' "attendance data" and boasts benefits including addressing "lost productivity, and lost cost reduction."

????Japanese surveillance tech also includes tools to check on the quality of train station guards' smiles and face recognition ad boards. And retailers in Japan have tracked their salespeople with GPS tech since 2002.

????These products were introduced without much fuss in the media or protest from the general population. Such deference to employers, some argue, means Japan is riper than most for a total surveillance society. (By contrast, consider the outrage in the U.S. prompted by revelations thatthe NSA had engaged in widespread electronic surveillance of American citizens.)