GOP introduces ISP tracking bill

[Insp. Clue!So?]

And you thought they were done:

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6156948.html

Through measures like this, the Patriot Act, and various DOJ initiatives America slowly collapses into a police state.

[BruinEric]

At first glance, I oppose this bill. But a couple points...

First, to be fair, this is an issue with plenty of Democrat support as well.

From the article:

Even though both requirements are central to a Republican-led effort, neither data retention nor Web labeling are that partisan. A Senate committee approved a telecommunications bill that included Web labeling by a 15-7 vote in June. And Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, has been the most vocal proponent of data retention in the entire Congress.

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Also, your point about "America collapsing" is watered down by the fact the article notes a measure in the UK requiring data retention (though not necessarily _content_).

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Lastly, exposed last year was the fact that AOL had retained search engine queries BY USERNAME! for "research purposes." They of course released a bunch of it to the public and some searches were specific enough that a few of the anonymized usernames were exposed. So even without scary politicians legislating on the topic, interenet users should consider much of their net use is not anonymous.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
And you thought they were done:

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6156948.html


[/ QUOTE ]

What, you didn't expect this? How could they allow UIGEA and not follow it up with this?

[Richas]

This was initially controversial in the UK but is now pretty well established with ISPs and Cellphone companies required to store the data for at least 2 years.

Access to the data on individuals is only by court order. There are clear civil liberties concerns not least because the use of triangulation from phone masts can pinpoint individuals location quite accurately. Two high profile media cases involved the use of phone location - the Soham child murders where the victims records helped lead to the perp and the Damiolla Taylor murder case where the phone records suggested that those on trial were not close enough to have committed the attack, a vital part of their successful defence.

This is a hugely powerful law enforcement tool which I was initially very concerned about but given probable cause I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that access to phone and Internet records should be available to the authorities. This could be crucial post terrorist attacks to find co-conspirators and post the Madrid bombings it was phone records that led to the terrorists location.

[satya]

[ QUOTE ]
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.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah good idea. I think we should have the gov't start recording all phone conversations as well. Hell might as well implant a micro-chip recorder in all US citizens. Just in case.

[JPFisher55]

Communism showed that the government can stop most crime by taking away all the rights of its citizens. Western society seems to be heading down that road.

[BHold]

Another building major problem that will contribute to the fall or radical change within Western Society.

[swarm]

[ QUOTE ]
This was initially controversial in the UK but is now pretty well established with ISPs and Cellphone companies required to store the data for at least 2 years.

Access to the data on individuals is only by court order. There are clear civil liberties concerns not least because the use of triangulation from phone masts can pinpoint individuals location quite accurately. Two high profile media cases involved the use of phone location - the Soham child murders where the victims records helped lead to the perp and the Damiolla Taylor murder case where the phone records suggested that those on trial were not close enough to have committed the attack, a vital part of their successful defence.

This is a hugely powerful law enforcement tool which I was initially very concerned about but given probable cause I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that access to phone and Internet records should be available to the authorities. This could be crucial post terrorist attacks to find co-conspirators and post the Madrid bombings it was phone records that led to the terrorists location.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is all well and good except for the fact that our government (this administration in particular) uses bills like these to go after items completely out of scope of the reason the legislation was introduced and past in the first place.

I just think that every bill should be looked at much more skeptically on how the government can abuse it to infringe on the rights of good american citizens.

[c5Nfold]

I am prolly gonna hear about this post, but I gotta say it anyway. First of all, I am a christian who plays poker and does not believe that it is immoral, harmful to children or family destroying. What amazes me is that these people (religious leaders and politicians) who claim to be doing this gambling ban thing, are in fact helping to promote the thing that they that fear most....government control, anti-christ, whatever you want to call it. What the heck do they think will happen when they get their "no cash" society(see how quick they shut down neteller), micro chips in animals now and kids later all for the good of protecting children, and those little strips in the money to stop counterfitting and drug dealers, which can be tracked by satelite. We are selling out this country in the name of morality, which I agree that something needs to be done to protect our kids, but they are taking our rights away one at a time. One day we will go to bed and wake up, just like with neteller, and all funds will be frozen,,,,,worldwide. Please don't be too hard on me here. Just my 2 cents.

[RikaKazak]

[img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

America sucks...standard