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Congress may make ISPs snoop on you
Congress may make ISPs snoop on you
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: May 16, 2006, 4:00 AM PDT
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A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would
rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans' online
activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned.
The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said
Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a
"reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the
Bush administration's views on privacy.
High Impact
What's new:
Legislation is being prepared that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by
requiring that logs of Americans' online activities be stored.
Bottom line:
The legislation would create a federal felony targeted at bloggers, search
engines, e-mail service providers and many other Web sites that might
"facilitate" access to unlawful pornography.
More stories on this topic
Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, is proposing that ISPs be required to record information about
Americans' online activities so that police can more easily "conduct
criminal investigations." Executives at companies that fail to comply would
be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.
In addition, Sensenbrenner's legislation--expected to be announced as early
as this week--also would create a federal felony targeted at bloggers,
search engines, e-mail service providers and many other Web sites. It's
aimed at any site that might have "reason to believe" it facilitates access
to child pornography--through hyperlinks or a discussion forum, for
instance.
Speaking to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last
month, Gonzales warned of the dangers of pedophiles using the Internet
anonymously and called for new laws from Congress. "At the most basic level,
the Internet is used as a tool for sending and receiving large amounts of
child pornography on a relatively anonymous basis," Gonzales said.
(Remember this is the same EXCUSE Klinton tried to use to squelch the net. 'For the children' again.)
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc.
Until Gonzales' speech, the Bush administration had explicitly opposed laws
requiring data retention, saying it had "serious reservations" (click here
for PDF) about them. But after the European Parliament last December
approved such a requirement for Internet, telephone and voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) providers, top administration officials began talking about
it more favorably.
The drafting of the data-retention proposal comes as Republicans are trying
to do more to please their conservative supporters before the November
election. One bill announced last week targets MySpace.com and other social
networking sites. At a meeting last weekend, social conservatives called on
the Bush administration to step up action against pornography, according to
a New York Times report.
Sensenbrenner's proposal is likely to be controversial. It would
substantially alter U.S. laws dealing with privacy protection of Americans'
Web surfing habits and is sure to alarm Internet businesses that could be at
risk for linking to illicit Web sites.
A spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee said the aide who drafted the
legislation was not immediately available for an interview on Monday.
U.S. Justice Department spokesman Drew Wade said the agency generally
doesn't comment on legislation, though it may "issue a letter of opinion" at
a later date.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information
Center in Washington, called Sensenbrenner's measure an "open-ended
obligation to collect information about all customers for all purposes. It
opens the door to government fishing expeditions and unbounded data mining."
The National Security Agency has engaged in extensive data-mining about
Americans' phone calling habits, USA Today reported last week, a revelation
that could complicate Republicans' efforts to enact laws relating to
mandatory data retention and data mining. Sen. John Sununu, a New Hampshire
Republican, for instance, took a swipe at the program on Monday, and
Democrats have been calling for a formal investigation.
Worries for Internet providers
One unusual aspect of Sensenbrenner's legislation--called the Internet
Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act--or
Internet Safety Act--is that it's relatively vague.
Instead of describing exactly what information Internet providers would be
required to retain about their users, the Internet Safety Act gives the
attorney general broad discretion in drafting regulations. At minimum, the
proposal says, user names, physical addresses, Internet Protocol addresses
and subscribers' phone numbers must be retained.
That generous wording could permit Gonzales to order Internet providers to
retain records of e-mail correspondents, Web pages visited, and even the
contents of communications.
"In the absence of clear privacy safeguards, Congress would be wise to
remove this provision," Rotenberg said.
Sonia Arrison, director of technology studies at the free-market Pacific
Research Institute in San Francisco, said the Internet Safety Act "follows
in a long line of bad laws that are written in the name of protecting
children."
CONTINUED: Uncertain political terrain...
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