Comments on: Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police

The Internet Safety Act would require all providers of an "electronic communication service" to log user accounts for two years for later police convenience.

[rjf19]

Unbelievable! Who's going to install logging servers at every house in the US that has a WiFi router? Who is going to pay for every business to comply? Are these people total idiots or just very stupid? I for one will NOT comply in any way law or not. If it means doing away with WiFi, so be it, it's gone. If it means doing away with DHCP so be it, it's gone. I can assign permanent NAT addresses foreever, screw the idiots in Washington. The king is dead, long live the king, same old crap, different faces...

[mooney101]

This one is tricky. I agree we need more to protect against child porn. Its still a big problem and any man who has ever searched for porn online can say that they have come cross some questionable images at some point ,so more needs to be done. But problem is it can;t be up to the business. The only way I can see this working it has has to have the technology built into to the router with the storage built in, everything automatic. Why? Because like others have said most of the people running wifi spots have no idea what they are doing anyway. Example, why'll on vacation this past summer I helped a motel get there wifi sit up ( so i could use it to also) and trust me they had no idea what they were doing. Now do you think they no anything about logs?

[RicRoe]

And the Republicans wonder why they lost the election?

The economy is heading for a depression, and Republican lawmakers want to turn ISP's into Big Brother.

Given the state of the economy, widespread record unemployment, and the fact the country is fighting two wars, Republicans need to take a serious look at the legislation they are proposing.

If this was so vital, they should have pushed Cheney to make W sign an executive order before they left town.

Republicans are done if they think Americans will accept passage of this legislation.

[darter22]

If this story is real then I will just have to be an outlaw until we get these people lined up at the guillotine.

[darter22]

If this story is real then I will just have to be an outlaw until we get these people lined up at the guillotine.

Cornyn is a joke. Does anybody outside of Texas take him seriously? He's just pandering to the local extreme right wing--he's sure to get mentioned in those sermons on Sunday.

[champion77]

RIGHT wing??? You gotta be kidding me!!!

He is pandering to the LEFT wing Socialists. Traditionally in the Democratic party.

I don't get it. I have been a Republican all my life, because I don't believe in big government. But GOP keeps heading left. Far cry from when I was a kid.

Maybe Libertarians might be the answer???

[sam_123456]

<You probably already own a wifi router, perhaps linksys, dlink, or heck even one of those crappy Belkin routers can assign a 10dot class A network range to your computers and have the lease expire after two years. IT'S NOT THAT HARD! geesh... and corporations (even small businesses) can easily afford to keep that kind of record for that period of time for private ip assignments. Like I said, ISP's would have a tougher, but not impossible task of doing the same, just with a smaller pool of public addresses.>

ok guys. I worked at a law enforcement agency for 5 years. The problem with all these "simple" solutions is that if your router locks up and you have to reset it you will then be in violation of the law. And then you can be charged if the records are requested and you don't have them.
this ranks right up there with the idiot that tried to pass the law putting speed limits on the informations superhighway.

Most businesses do this anyway. Making ISP's do this isn't really a big deal but making home users do it is stupid, counterproductive and completely impossible to enforce. And impossible to enforce laws undermine respect for the government. Its a Lose Lose situation as proposed.

[sam_123456]

I just looked at the senate bill.

heres the definitions straight from the bill. Note that there is an "and" after all lines but the last. You have to meet all those definitions. You'd have to have a personal website with registered users to meet this definition. The reporter didn't do his homework very well.


`(b) Definitions- As used in this section--

`(1) the term `Internet content hosting provider' means a service that--

`(A) stores, through electromagnetic or other means, electronic data, including the content of web pages, electronic mail, documents, images, audio and video files, online discussion boards, and weblogs; and

`(B) makes such data available via the Internet; and

`(2) the term `email service provider' means a person that--

`(A) provides a service, using the Internet, for the transmission, receipt, storage, and retrieval, by registered users, of electronic mail messages; and

`(B) receives the content of, and recipient list for, electronic mail messages that it transmits, receives, or stores for the person or entity procuring such services.'.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 95 of title 18, United

[sam_123456]

ok I missed the legal definition of a provider of electronic service.

If that legal definition is true then any kid with a nintendo DS will be in violation because they can chat wirelessly. Anyone with a Cell phone would meet that definition.

[alaris3k]

They don't give a F about the children, this is all about money.

[alaris3k]

here's an idea. why not put the money towards parenting? What/????? parents take responsibility for their kids????? I say if the children get in trouble on the internet because they were allowed access, prosecute the parents. nuff said.

[HunterA3]

All this excess data retention does is create extra expense for all involved. Most people and businesses won't be able to afford the storage or the software needed for that much retention and the government won't be able to afford that many analysts to dig through it. I mean if the NSA couldn't connect the dots from all the data they collect to prevent Sept 11, what make the FBI and local law enforcement think that collecting 10 times more data is going to do any good for them? The only people that will take advantage of this are hackers looking to steal identities and for financial gain.

[i_made_this]

Dec, thanks for this piece. Good reporting, as always. I suspect we may probably see the clamor over these Republican Party initiated issues die down when these bills come up and get voted down in the new atmosphere of this Democratic Admin.

[thomasshunter]

First, the party of "less government" went after online pornography (no less than 16 DOJ attorneys during the Bush Adminstration were engaged in policing this issue).

Next, the party that vows to "get the government out of our lives" (DOJ and state AGs) started arresting sports gambling operators and fining media who take gambling ads.

Next, the party that wants to "give more power to state and local government" passed sweeping legislation to ban online poker and criminalize online gambling. Later, these same forces passes the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

Now, the same party that wants to "protect children" is pushing for gross infringements on individual privacy and create countless hours of unnecessary bureacracy for business at a time when staffs are being cut back.

When will it ever end?

Goerge Orwell's 1984 was off by a few decades, but the Republican Party should win an Oscar in the role of "Big Brother."

Despicable.

[pentest]

If someone is committing a crime online, and on a public network, unless they are stupid no amount of logs will help the hapless police.

1. Use a throwaway USB WIFI dongle
2. Don't log into anything that can identify you while connected with 1

I guess the republicans still haven't figured out the voters rejected their ideas of totalitarianism completely last fall. They are now a regional party, and unless they want to follow the whigs they better jettison these fundie nutbags.

[moneyman728]

Anyone remember the days when that little thing we call the Constitution decided what legal and illegal for government. Gosh, I miss those days...

[maksstyr]

Keep Bill Clinton's internet activity away from the feds. This bill must not pass!

[sandkicker]

At first I was going to go into a very long winded rant about political hacks and religious fanatics wanting to control what happens on the internet, becaus believe me, this issue is not about fighting crime, its about control of the masses and fear mongering.

We as a Nation, have become a Nation of mice. We expect government to fix everything and we deny responsibility for everything wrong in our lives.

The fixes are easy,
1. elect new politicians each election cycle.
2. quit listening to religious zealots, and quit donating to them.
3. put lawyers out of business.
End result: A happy peaceful world.

[thegeniusfiles]

If you don't like this kind of legislation, fight back! The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit group dedicated to fighting this sort of government abuse of power:
http://eff.org
If you want to follow the progress of this, or any legislation, may I suggest:
http://govtrack.us
This terrific service lets you set up alerts to inform you of any activity regarding a specific bill. You can also set up alerts on your legislator(s) and keep tabs on what they are doing.
You can complain. Or you can raise hell. Your choice!

[newgun2000]

Republicains=*******

[champion77]

Rupiblicans and Democrats. They are all doing this crap.