On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 12:34 AM, Jim Bell <jamesdbell8@yahoo.com> wrote:

I predict that any proposed new bill will contain requirements that the phone co's record 'all' of the data the government might want, and keep it for an extended period of time. The government knows that if no such requirement is put into law, phone co's will compete for customers by offering ever-more-complete privacy. Soon enough, no phone company will store metadata, or they will store it in such a way that it will be useless for government purposes.

I'm not so sure I trust the US-based phone companies. Even without government requirement, they'll need to track some customer data in order to keep their services running efficiently. They could anonymize the data, but that would be extra complication and expense as well as another possible foothold for the camel's nose to enter the tent (if you'll pardon a mangled metaphor).

My house phone is VOIP, served by a company in the PRC. (My wife is Chinese and this service gives unlimited calls between the US and PRC.) The PRC is hardly a defender of individual liberty and privacy, but I don't especially care if the PRC keeps track of how often I call my mother and I'm not worried about the PRC sharing this data with the US government. This isn't a complete solution to the problem, but it's part of a solution.

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Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet. -- Arnaud-Amaury, 1209