Privacy on Al Gore’s Internets
Data retention bill in congress:
All Internet service providers would need to track their customers’ online activities to aid police in future investigations under legislation introduced Tuesday as part of a Republican “law and order agenda.”
Employees of any Internet provider who fail to store that information face fines and prison terms of up to one year, the bill says. The U.S. Justice Department could order the companies to store those records forever.
You are assumed to be up to something and we must watch! More:
Details about data retention requirements would be left to Gonzales. At a minimum, the bill says, the regulations must require storing records “such as the name and address of the subscriber or registered user to whom an Internet Protocol address, user identification or telephone number was assigned, in order to permit compliance with court orders.”Because there is no limit on how broad the rules can be, Gonzales would be permitted to force Internet providers to keep logs of Web browsing, instant message exchanges, or e-mail conversations indefinitely. (The bill does not, however, explicitly cover search engines or Web hosting companies, which officials have talked about before as targets of regulation.)
No offense, but you’re not anonymous out there. If the feds want to find you, they will. Hell, they showed up at my house based on posting to Al Gore’s Internets.
February 8th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I have not read the bill, but would this have a Chilling Effect on open access ports such as the ones run by Panera, Flying J, Seattle Wireless, or other people that offer free wi-fi for the convenience of their customers?
Will people be criminally liable for leaving their home wi-fi ports unsecured?
Will this bill deal effectively with privacy via overseas proxies?
When privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. Don’t hand the state the tools for a surveillance state, we’re headed that way fast enough already.