[Politech] Data retention bill officially surfaces in the U.S. Congress [priv]

[Declan McCullagh]

Well, it took a few years, but it finally happened. A data retention
bill was introduced today, courtesy of the those freedom-loving House
Republicans and their "law and order agenda." But it's actually a
Democrat (Rep. Diana DeGette) who's the most enthusiastic proponent of
this scheme, so you can bet that whatever happens will be bipartisan in
the end.

Oh, and the bill also includes mandatory Web labeling.

I've placed the documents here:
http://politechbot.com/docs/smith.data.retention.labeling.draft.020607.pdf
http://politechbot.com/docs/smith.gop.law.and.order.agenda.020607.doc
http://politechbot.com/docs/smith.republican.agenda.package.020607.doc

And my article is here:
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6156948.html

Excerpt:
Details about data retention requirements would be left to Gonzales. At
a minimum, the bill says, the regulations must require storing records
"such as the name and address of the subscriber or registered user to
whom an Internet Protocol address, user identification or telephone
number was assigned, in order to permit compliance with court orders."
Because there is no limit on how broad the rules can be, Gonzales would
be permitted to force Internet providers to keep logs of Web browsing,
instant message exchanges, or e-mail conversations indefinitely. (The
bill does not, however, explicitly cover search engines or Web hosting
companies, which officials have talked about before as targets of
regulation.)

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/2007/01/24/not-just-isps/

-Declan
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