U.S. asks companies to record Web usage – Technology – International Herald Tribune — Another good way to see what political sites you visit. You know to see if you are with us or against us. Does anyone see a pattern here?
The Justice Department is asking Internet companies to keep records on the Web-surfing activities of their customers to aid law enforcement, and may propose legislation to force them to do so.
The director of the FBI, Robert Mueller 3rd, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales held a meeting May 26 in Washington, where they offered a general proposal on record-keeping to a group of senior executives from Internet companies, said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Justice Department. The meeting included representatives from America Online, Microsoft, Google, Verizon and Comcast.
found by Alex Cohen
I am far, far more afraid of the US government at this point than I am of terrorists.
See, fact is, anyone with strange browsing habits (ie still on slashdot at 4 in the morning) is clearly a TERRORIST. Also, anyone who visits sites including, but not limited to communism, hacking, etc are also TERRORISTS. That’s why we should watch for these people, Come on, the us governemnt is going to hell in a handbasket
“…the department appears to be trying to determine whether Internet companies will voluntarily agree to keep certain information or if it will need to seek legislation to require them to do so.”–[FromTheArticle]
I’m trying to think of just the right words to ridicule this….
Can someone explain to me why end users cannot connect to the internet directly without the use of an ISP? It seems that the ISPs are part of the problem. Is there no way to get around them and become your own ISP?
Thanks to anyone that can enlighten me.
As I read the story the argument was about how long they would keep the records not whether they would keep them.
The meeting included representatives from America Online, Microsoft, Google, Verizon and Comcast.
With that list of corporations you really have to wonder who proposed what, to who, and who did it first. And never mind who’s on second.
recall that they said that ISP’s not retaining these records “hampered” the prosecution of child pornography cases. not PREVENTED them.
again, lazy, lazy cops would rather violate everyone’s privacy than do the hard work of law enforcement.
It’s all about retention time of traffic logs. And I will bet that the recording and movie industries are as much in play here as any anti-terror concerns. Nice little revenue stream sitting there with USNet for example. Why sell when you can sue?
Let’s hope the ISPs will give the same response Qwest did on the phone logging.
#29 It’s all about retention time of traffic logs
And I like the contrast between that, and Corporate America’s post-Enron embrace of deleting any files & emails after 90-days…
From the article: In its current proposal, the department appears to be trying to determine whether Internet companies will voluntarily agree to keep certain information or if it will need to seek legislation to require them to do so
How much will it cost these companies to increase storage capacity from a month’s worth to 2-years worth??
Since any cost will be passed on to us customers, how much would such an “unfunded mandate” cost us???
All those Republican Congressmen must be pooping in their pants over this. It was bad enough when the Republican Government started tapping only terrorists phones, then only who called what number. Now, the Republican Government is asking to know where everyone went on-line. This won’t effect only child porn perverts, but all those upstanding middle class married men viewing straight porn (where all the models ARE 18), those going to off shore gambling sites, those neo-cons that read the Washington Post or NY Times, and those who frequent chat rooms. This would effect almost every voting adult.
The Democrats don’t need a platform with these buffoons screwing up everything.
Who’s gonna be the first to file War Crimes charges on the current admin.?