Comments on: Data retention bills to benefit copyright holders

Not only the FBI would be helped by legislation forcing Internet providers and Wi-Fi access points to keep track of users. So would the major music and movie labels.

[joeglens]

If this bill will pass, a new kind of network will be born outside the traditional "Internet" just to show resistance and mock the goverment

[bruceslog]

This should be as illegal as requiring every driver to log where s/he and his/her automobile were at any day and hour of the year for the past 2 years.
I also see that they have had great success catching predators online without this law, making this law an unnecessary invasion of privacy.
This should have been thrown out of camber from the start.

But if they pass this law anyway,, and if they are going to force me to become a sysadmin - forcing me to keep router logs ( many routers do not have this capability, no home router I know of can keep 2 years worth of logs ), and if they are going to force me to save these logs to MY hard drive space, and force me to diligently backup these logs so I'm always in compliance in case of hard drive failure, then they had better plan on paying me for doing their forced labor.
I figure 50K a year should suffice. And that is letting them off cheap.
So if you get your law passed, Senators, you'd better include the funding for us all whilst we are being forced to obey your stupid rule.

Seems like Congress has passed laws before - that Outlaw companies from collecting and retaining so much citizens data while online, or required companies to post what is collected and how it is used.
And hey, Congress, we are getting really tired of you all trying to pass crappy laws in the name of protecting the children all the time. Your free pass with that excuse is expired.
Try protecting your constituents rights, privacy, freedom, liberty, and pursuit of Happiness, like you swore you would.

[0ri0n]

This sounds a LOT like any number of initiatives pushed through to allow marketers longer tendrils into our private lives.

I am getting tired of politicians crafting laws under the guise of some noble cause, only to sell our private lives to the highest buyer. If this "Internet Safety Act" was specifically for the purpose of law enforcement to truly protect children, that would be one thing, but my guess is it will simply provide a means to build demographics of online activity for marketers or data warehouses looking to capitalize on such information, while leaving the citizens of this country at the mercy of how they want to use it.

Initiatives like this are, sadly, a marketing campaign in themselves. Any politician who votes against it will be labeled as "against child safety".

Anyone remember "every cell phone needs GPS technology to locate you in the event of a 911 emergency"? Yes, and now you get advertisements based on your location to businesses.

How about "as a result of 9/11 and anti-terrorist measures, we need to conduct a background check on you for this position". Since there is NO CENTRAL REGISTRY for data warehouses of this information, I get to hunt them down like needles in a haystack to make sure my information is accurate. Usually not being notified of any errors until AFTER I have been passed over for the position. This is worse than trying to maintain your credit record, because they now want to categorize you as second-class if THEIR records on you are not accurate. In this economy, you can't even get a janitor job without surrendering to a background check, and that is no guarantee you will get the job, but the liability (due to the potential of the profile agency getting compromised, like Checkpoint) has already been created.
Checkpoint has been compromised at least twice, but you won't see any compensation for that irresponsibility.

Hell, my neighbor used lojack to keep tabs on an ex-husband. Rediculous.

Lawyers have used the cookies on your computer to sway a verdict in a child custody case, via supposition and innuendo, based on the websites someone in that household visited.

I have no problem allowing law enforcement any access they need, but I do NOT want every marketer, employer, ex-spouse or identity thief with a few bucks the same access. There is no reason I should have to chase marketers around with "Opt-Out" to protect my privacy.

Google, tragically, said privacy does not exist in this age and, with lawmakers pushing through legislation riddled with capitalist opportunities like this, they are so right.

When lawmakers can generate laws to protect the public, without selling them out, or the public just begins to take an aggressive stance against the public marketing of information that should ONLY be available to law enforcement, we MAY be on the right track.

Until then, its just another politician spewing capitalist rhetoric under a noble facade.

[blundering]

This Law is so technically incompetent it really makes me wonder...the people putting this together CANT be that blind, hell even the most simple google search will let a user change a MAC by typing "change mac address" and following the instructions or downloading a really easy to use program.
Ok then, lets assume the law makers have a basic elementary school knowledge of reading and computers, what then?

This is a frightening area of control, there are so many non technical people that could be jurors, all its takes a politician wanting to put another feather under their hat, a public defender with a attitude of let the India techs fix it, and you have instant ability to produce thousands or "prosecutions" for a outstanding record of some responsible free man or woman seeking to further their place in politics.

If we allow our government such free reign to put those that could be challenged to put up a defense to these allegations in a way a jury could understand, is our government any better than those that jail people for the color of their skin, or the religion they worship?

For me, if this is how its going (as if the law where passed), I better get my affairs in order, because even though I don't view CP, nor really do anything considered illegal I really do not feel comfortable allowing such open threats to persecute people at a whim.