Friday, June 17, 2005
DOJ seeking to deputize ISPs to aid law enforcement
Why is it that Republican administrations always try to set up a police state? DOJ seeking to deputize ISPs to aid law enforcement
The government is thinking out loud about something that was unthinkable as short as five years ago, requiring ISPs to maintain log files of customer Internet activity. The rationale is simple: it's for the children.
"It was raised not once but several times in the meeting, very emphatically," said Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, which represents small to midsize companies. "We were told, 'You're going to have to start thinking about data retention if you don't want people to think you're soft on child porn.'"
If insinuating that anyone who does not want a record kept of every website visit molests children is not bullying enough, just invoke the War on Terror. Officials posit that keeping records of all activity might possibly mean "successful criminal and terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of insufficient evidence." Not to mention that other great terrorist threat, the trading of copyrighted works through file sharing."
