08.Feb.2010

More disturbing news about the erosion of privacy: Declan McCullagh at Cnet reports that the Feds want ISPs to keep track of the “origin and destination information” of all users and keep records for two years:

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do.

Aside from the gross invasion of privacy involved in such widespread spying, the retention of these records themselves poses a separate and possibly worse violation of privacy. One errant click could be enshrined in a permanent record for years (setting aside the creepiness of having corporations create secret permanent records on users in the first place). Perhaps ingenious corporate types and law enforcement will work together to create efficient uses of this permanent data: we’ll be able to adjust credit scores, criminal records, and sex offender registries remotely. What possible harm could come from a cozy relationship between business and government centered on monitoring communication among citizens?

Note to self: buy more aluminum foil for millinery.