Imagine the Postal Service keeping a copy of every single letter you've ever written (for those of you who are older than 30, you'll appreciate what I mean).
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller on Friday urged telecommunications officials to record their customers' Internet activities, CNET News.com has learned.Yes, what we need is MORE tracking of everything you do online. And my favorite part of this, Gonzales is claiming it's to help fight child pornography.
In a private meeting with industry representatives, Gonzales, Mueller and other senior members of the Justice Department said Internet service providers should retain subscriber information and network data for two years, according to two sources familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Supporters of the idea say it will help prosecutions of child pornography because in many cases, logs are deleted during the routine course of business.... It was not immediately clear what Gonzales and Mueller meant by suggesting that network data be retained. One possibility is requiring Internet providers to record the Internet addresses their customers are temporarily assigned. A more extensive mandate would require companies to keep track of e-mail messages sent, Web pages visited and perhaps even instant-messaging correspondents.I guess it's no longer kosher justifying the creation of a police state on the threat posed by Jews (though I hear Mexicans are still acceptable fodder).
