[TriLUG] FBI director wants ISPs to track users

Thu Oct 19 07:56:20 EDT 2006

ill second that..

Jason

On Thu, Oct 19, 2006 at 06:49:55AM -0400, Matthew Lavigne wrote:
> 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.
> >  
> 
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