Big Brother Wants To Watch

For all the things for them to decide to change their mind and try something different! These guys could screw up a.....we'll you finish it.

The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers' online activities.
Data retention rules could permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity months after Internet providers ordinarily would have deleted the logs--that is, if logs were ever kept in the first place. No U.S. law currently mandates that such logs be kept.
In theory, at least, data retention could permit successful criminal and terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of insufficient evidence. But privacy worries and questions about the practicality of assembling massive databases of customer behavior have caused a similar proposal to stall in Europe and could engender stiff opposition domestically. ........One U.S. industry representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Justice Department is interested in at least a two-month requirement. ........This represents an abrupt shift in the Justice Department's long-held position that data retention is unnecessary and imposes an unacceptable burden on Internet providers. In 2001, the Bush administration expressed "serious reservations about broad mandatory data retention regimes."

Wow! Pro business and keep government out of my personal life. Sounds a lot like traditional conservative theory to me. I could handle that. But the bastards changed their mind!

The current proposal appears to originate with the Justice Department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, which enforces federal child pornography laws. But once mandated by law, the logs likely would be mined during terrorism, copyright infringement and even routine criminal investigations. (The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.)

In other words for whatever the hell they want. They'll just keep reminding you how much "safer" you are.

A 1996 federal law called the Electronic Communication Transactional Records Act regulates data preservation. It requires Internet providers to retain any "record" in their possession for 90 days "upon the request of a governmental entity."

Ahh, so they can already do it. Sooooo, this just automatically saves everything on everyone....just in case you know.

"Even if your concern is chasing after child pornographers, the packets don't come pre-labeled that way," Rotenberg said. "What effectively happens is that all ISP customers, when that data is presented to the government, become potential targets of subsequent investigations."

Like I said, just in case.

Even after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration criticized that approach. In November 2001, Mark Richard from the Justice Department's criminal division said in a speech in Brussels, Belgium, that the U.S. method offers Internet providers the flexibility "to retain or destroy the records they generate based upon individual assessments of resources, architectural limitations, security and other business needs."

Business freedom and keeping the governments nose out of it. ..........wait, the liberals like it this time. They must be up to something. Maybe we should see what they're up to.

Alexander Alvaro on behalf of the Parliament's civil liberties and home affairs committee slammed the idea, ....Given the volume of data to be retained, particularly Internet data, it is unlikely that an appropriate analysis of the data will be at all possible. Individuals involved in organized crime and terrorism will easily find a way to prevent their data from being traced." He calculated that if an Internet provider were to retain all traffic data, the database would swell to a size of 20,000 to 40,000 terabytes--too large to search using existing technology.

So you're saying needle in a haystack and you'd just end up looking at a bunch of stuff that was irrelevant. Just "accidental" snooping. Yep, I have lots of confidence in that idea.
Real conservatives, this is a time I'm willing to bond with you in all sincerity. Stand up and be counted. You're not sheeple!

ihope