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Big Brother's arm gets a lot bigger
5 comments- IT TOPICS:Government & Regulation, Internet, Networking
If the Republicans get their way, ISPs will be required by law to track all of their customer's behavior, keep records of that behavior forever, and turn it over not only to law enforcment officials, but even to private lawyers in non-criminal cases such as divorces and employment disputes.
The new law is being proposed by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the House Judiciary Committee's top Republican. It would let Attorney General Alberto Gonzales decide exactly what information should be kept by ISPs. Gonzales has shown time and time again to be a civil libertarian's worst nightmare.
What happened to a time when conservatives worried about the long arm of the federal government, decried privacy intrusions, and thought that the government had no business snooping into people's private lives?
As this bill shows, those days are long gone. The law, if approved, would be the worst intrusion invasion of privacy in cyberspace yet by the feds.
Unfortunately, the proposal also shows that stupidity is an equal-opportunity employer, because some Democrats are backing it as well. Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, for example, favors this kind of law. Other Democrats have voted in the past for similar proposals.
Increasingly, more and more of our lives are being conducted online. This law hastens in a time when you have no online privacy, and whatever you do can be snooped on by the government, and even private lawyers. Congress should squash this bill, and fast.
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