p2p news / p2pnet: “Industry representatives,” US attorney general Alberto Gonzales, FBI director Robert Mueller and “other senior members of the Justice Department want ISPs to retain subscriber information and network data for two years, say sources quoted by CNET News.

“The closed-door meeting at the Justice Department, which Gonzales had requested, according to the sources, comes as the idea of legally mandated data retention has become popular on Capitol Hill and inside the Bush administration,” says the story, going on:

“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.”

Alarmed by the prospect of legally mandated data retention, privacy advocates say while child exploitation may be the justification today, “the records would be available in all kinds of criminal and civil suits – including terrorism, tax evasion, drug, and even divorce cases,” says CNET, adding:

“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.”

In Europe, communications providers in the 25 EU countries must hold customer data for a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years.

Also See:
CNET News – Gonzales pressures ISPs on data retention, May 26, 2006

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 11:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

HOME

Viewed 1959 times