[TriLUG] FBI director wants ISPs to track users

[WA Brown]

I am only replying once to this. This kind of attitude surprises me. Being a 
Linux group, I would think that privacy and freedom are tremendous concern 
to you.  I appreciate any warnings of something that will affect me! This 
has everything to do with Linux. Do you think its ok for some government 
stooge to remotely start your webcam and microphone and watch your daughter 
get dressed in her bedroom? Or watch you and you wife in private moments? Or 
come and arrest your son because he stumbled on an "UN-PC" site? I think 
this will affect Linux,Mac,Microsoft and anybody that has a computer.

(quote)
Other then a direct copy (likely copyright infringement)
> and along with a link  there is no other comments in either post.

I do this so anybody that read this will know exactly what was said and 
where it came from. It is self-explanitory so why would you need a comment? 
I suppose you pay for all your programs,music and drive 55mph?


> Please can we keep this garbage off of the list?

If you think its garbage to notify you of something that will affect your 
safety and freedoms then don't reply to this kind of message.


WA Brown



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matthew Lavigne" <lavigne at thosebastards.net>
To: "Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list" <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 6:49 AM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] FBI director wants ISPs to track users


> OK, only going to reply to one of these but can we keep the political BS 
> and talking heads off the linux list?  I understand that this has privacy 
> concerns but what do either of the threads posted have to do with linux? 
> Other then a direct copy (likely copyright infringement) and along with a 
> link  there is no other comments in either post.
>
> Please can we keep this garbage off of the list?
>
> <brownwa at ftc-i.net was added to the killfile>
>
> Matthew
> enjoying the spoils of moving back to NY
>
> WA Brown wrote:
>> http://news.com.com/FBI+director+wants+ISPs+to+track+users/2100-7348_3-6126877.html?tag=nefd.top
>>
>>
>> FBI director wants ISPs to track users
>> Robert Mueller becomes latest Bush administration official to call for 
>> ISPs to store customers' data.
>> By Declan McCullagh
>> Staff Writer, CNET News.com
>>
>> Published: October 17, 2006, 4:18 PM PDT
>> TalkBack E-mail Print del.icio.us Digg this
>> FBI Director Robert Mueller on Tuesday called on Internet service 
>> providers to record their customers' online activities, a move that 
>> anticipates a fierce debate over privacy and law enforcement in 
>> Washington next year.
>>
>> "Terrorists coordinate their plans cloaked in the anonymity of the 
>> Internet, as do violent sexual predators prowling chat rooms," Mueller 
>> said in a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police 
>> conference in Boston.
>>
>> "All too often, we find that before we can catch these offenders, 
>> Internet service providers have unwittingly deleted the very records that 
>> would help us identify these offenders and protect future victims," 
>> Mueller said. "We must find a balance between the legitimate need for 
>> privacy and law enforcement's clear need for access."
>>
>> The speech to the law enforcement group, which approved a resolution on 
>> the topic earlier in the day, echoes other calls from Bush administration 
>> officials to force private firms to record information about customers. 
>> Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, for instance, told Congress last month 
>> that "this is a national problem that requires federal legislation."
>>
>> Justice Department officials admit privately that data retention 
>> legislation is controversial enough that there wasn't time to ease it 
>> through the U.S. Congress before politicians left to campaign for 
>> re-election. Instead, the idea is expected to surface in early 2007, and 
>> one Democratic politician has already promised legislation.
>>
>> Law enforcement groups claim that by the time they contact Internet 
>> service providers, customers' records may have been deleted in the 
>> routine course of business. Industry representatives, however, say that 
>> if police respond to tips promptly instead of dawdling, it would be 
>> difficult to imagine any investigation that would be imperiled.
>>
>> It's not clear exactly what a data retention law would require. One 
>> proposal would go beyond Internet providers and require registrars, the 
>> companies that sell domain names, to maintain records too. And during 
>> private meetings with industry officials, FBI and Justice Department 
>> representatives have cited the desirability of also forcing search 
>> engines to keep logs--a proposal that could gain additional law 
>> enforcement support after AOL showed how useful such records could be in 
>> investigations.
>>
>> A representative of the International Association of Chiefs of Police 
>> said he was not able to provide a copy of the resolution.
>>
>> Preservation vs. retention
>> At the moment, Internet service providers typically discard any log file 
>> that's no longer required for business reasons such as network 
>> monitoring, fraud prevention or billing disputes. Companies do, however, 
>> alter that general rule when contacted by police performing an 
>> investigation--a practice called data preservation.
>>
>> A 1996 federal law called the Electronic Communication Transactional 
>> Records Act regulates data preservation. It requires Internet providers 
>> to retain any "record" in their possession for 90 days "upon the request 
>> of a governmental entity."
>>
>> Because Internet addresses remain a relatively scarce commodity, ISPs 
>> tend to allocate them to customers from a pool based on whether a 
>> computer is in use at the time. (Two standard techniques used are the 
>> Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and Point-to-Point Protocol over 
>> Ethernet.)
>>
>> In addition, Internet providers are required by another federal law to 
>> report child pornography sightings to the National Center for Missing and 
>> Exploited Children, which is in turn charged with forwarding that report 
>> to the appropriate police agency.
>>
>> When adopting its data retention rules, the European Parliament approved 
>> U.K.-backed requirements saying that communications providers in its 25 
>> member countries--several of which had enacted their own data retention 
>> laws already--must retain customer data for a minimum of six months and a 
>> maximum of two years.
>>
>> The Europe-wide requirement applies to a wide variety of "traffic" and 
>> "location" data, including: the identities of the customers' 
>> correspondents; the date, time and duration of phone calls, VoIP (voice 
>> over Internet Protocol) calls or e-mail messages; and the location of the 
>> device used for the communications. But the "content" of the 
>> communications is not supposed to be retained. The rules are expected to 
>> take effect in 2008.
>>
>
> -- 
> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
>