ISPs' information on users

[Stephen Humble]

tcmay at got.net (Timothy C. May) sez:
> Could ISPs in the UlS. be compelled to report on the browsing and
> net surfing habits of their customer base?

Such as when the police/feds/Big Brother's Helpers come in, seize
every piece of computer equipment on the site for "investigation", put
it in a warehouse for 2 years so they can read everything and save
whatever appeals to them in their private databases?  As Steve Jackson
Games found out, it can be slow and expensive to get the "evidence"
back and the satisfaction of watching a judge ream BBH is no guarantee
that such shenanigans will cease.

I hope the ISP used strong encryption on all their disks and tapes.
Sadly, I have no idea how to make sure an ISP I use does that
properly or how to get an exhaustive list of what kind of records they
keep.

tcmay at got.net (Timothy C. May) sez:
> To make this clear, I don't mean in a specific criminal case, where
> the records are searchable under a warrant. I mean a blanket order
> that all ISPs compile and forward records.

How many pieces of thread does it take to make a blanket?

Stephen