I am not concerned at this particular request in and of itself, but it does reveal that future of what the DoJ will be going after. The fact that they are making a request of private companies to keep records that will cost them money and raise prices to the consumer is not surprising. Of course they want the information, they may even have good motives, but they have no right to it without a specific search warrant.

What they want is to have the industry regulated to the point where they are required to retain records. This is not just DHCP records. They would love to have DNS records, site visit logs, etc... This is the first step...

The next step is for them to make emotional appeals that the IT industry is crippling their efforts to catch child molesters and terrorists by selfishly deleting the evidence against them. They will call for legislation and regulation requiring the info to be retained (at a greatly increased cost to us). Once it is retained, they will be able to use warrants (or just troll through it if they can get away with it) to get the information they need.

I am torn by this. I hate what pedofiles and those who purvey/consume child porn do. I think that they have relinquished their humanity and should be punished severely if convicted. At the same time I hate to see yet more liberties stripped away even for a good cause. This data would be priceless in the hunt for those pesky civil libertarians that cause so much trouble for tyrants. As much as my emotional response is that they should have it...the ends do not justify the means , so in this case the government should be hands-off as they do not have the right to do this. If they take the data anyway and force yet more regulation on the private sector, then they go yet one step further toward tyranny. Alarmist I may be, but these are small steps, if you add them all up, they constitute some considerable infringement to our liberties. As long as people ignore their rights and the consititution and instead use emotional exuses, like "what's the harm?" or "if you are innocent you have nothing to hide" then the government shall have nothing to hinder it. As for me, I say "...from my cold dead fingers"

Encryption, encryption, encryption!!!

Since your IP address is not encrypted, nor is the data on the server (else you could not access it), this specific data is not going to be helped.

Of course, it is a good idea to use encryption at any other time, but the goverment is trying to criminalize encryption. There is already legislation on the books that increase punishment if you used encryption and you were committing a computer crime. How long before the use of encryption itself is a crime. After all, if you have nothing to hide then why use encryption. That whole privacy thing is so 20th century anyway.

President Bush and his cronies at the DOJ will stop at nothing to get as much information as they can on everyone of us.He lied about our need for war, confused Iraq and 9-11 and now wants to dismantle any privacy using "war on terror" crud. Silence equals apathy and that my friends will be the real injustice.

[ladylust]:...I see nothing wrong with this, if your not doing anything illegal who cares.

I care because I'm patriotic American, not an ugly american who rushes to give up his rights everytime the government wants me to. Try reading the 4th and 5th amendments, along with the Federalist Papers, and if you don't agree with them, please do us all a favor and move to Anarctica or Saudi Arabia.

Besides, if you have nothing to hide, why not list your phone number, credit card numbers, social security number, and address right here on BetaNews. IF YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING ILLEGAL, WHY NOT SHARE WITH US YOUR INFORMATION SO WE CAN CHECK FOR OURSELVES IF YOU'RE ABIDING BY THE LAWS?

I didn't think you'd want to do that. Want to stick by your statement now, or do you really trust the republican government that much?

I'm sorry, did you say patriotic or paranoid American? What do the 4th and 5th amendments have to do with your ISP retaining data longer? People like you become paralyzed by their own pessimism and cynicism. If you have nothing to hide you should share your social security and credit card numbers? That statement is just plain ignorant. You shouldn't be wasting valuable time here, you should be outside digging a moat around your house.

You don't have a moat yet...oooh, how you gonna keep the storm troopers from the black helicopters out.

Unlike some folks I think that there are those that can see the direction this is heading. Why would they "request" that he data be retained if they did not intend to harvest it? If they do indeed harvest it, then it would be a direct attack on the due process provisions of the 4th ammendment. This part of the constitution restricts the government's access to data about me wherever the data resides unless a warrant specifying the locations and things to be searched is used. There are no provisions made for child porn or terrorism in the constitution. The reason does not matter.

They would be able to gather an amazing amount of information about every one of us that they have no right to. The only valid case is when a specific search warrant was used, but it does not take a prophet to see how long they would consent to be restrained by those pesky things. Reference them poring over my phone bills if you doubt.

I believe that in order not to tempt the government ISP's should flush all non-necessary data. There are other ways to catch pervs and terrorists. Honey pots and sting operations are just as effective and far more targeted. Or they could do... *Gasp* ... Police Work ... and actually track down and convict these folks. Nah, for more simple to just search everyone and then worry about the consitution later.

I see nothing wrong with this, if your not doing anything illegal who cares. If your searching for keywords and then buying into websites that offer illegal information (i.e child porn) you should be arrested, and then made someones buttwife for the rest of your life.

How is this any different then cell phone records, telephone records, your transactions on your credit cards. All of which are kept for much longer then 2 years. Most ISP's do this anyway - prior to this DOJ request. Why do you think they have anonymous newgroup providers, because your ISP logs it, and has been long before the word Terrorism was a dirty word.

So if I am searching for those convicted of child porn, incidences of child porn, or I work for a private agency doing research on child porn; Falling under the scrutiny of a very big govenment is just a risk I need to accept?

Perhaps the Government should produce a thousand page manual that tells researchers, educators, doctors, lawyers and thousands of others how to appropriately search for terms someone might decide are objectionable or illegal...because it is entirely possible that some "tunnel visioned" government agents may well waste a lot of tax money and ruin the lives of some folks in a persuit to gain a few strokes from their supervisors.

Remember Richard Jewell and the crucifixion he encountered at the hands of Government when in the end he was a hero? It doesnt matter that he was innocent..the damage was done. When the press moved on to more exciting stories and the government was done fishing he was the one stuck living the rest of his life with the stigma, not Uncle Sam. All because some FBI genius developed a profile and decided he fit it.

*Right now, most companies hold traffic records only for a few days*

How is it different? The other services you mention need it for billing. As far as I know, most ISPs only retain your ip address history for any length of time.

So if you go to a site deriding the current administration or supporting stem cell research ... or gay marriage, and that site does not keep a record of ip addresses, then a few days later there won't be a record of you going there.

I wonder how long it will be until every vehicle has to have a tacking system built in just in case the Government might want the data later.

The idea that more and more entities are being required to retain information before it is even evidence tends to leave an impression that the government presumes we all need to be scrutinized. This is just getting way to far into peoples heads and personal activities.

Pretty hard to persue the right to happiness when concerns over "Scrutiny" become a 24/7 consideration for average, everyday people. It isn't paranoia when it is happening.

It seems to me that DOJ ought to consider testing this program in the halls of Government since they seem to have their share of Congressman being bribed, child preditors, emails between aides and the congressmen they have affairs with and disks loaded with porn....of course that would be a constitutional issue over separation of power. *laughs

Alberto Gonzales is going to make John Ashcroft look like a saint before it is over.

oh just slap the chips in our skin and put brain scanners on all the street corners already, i grow bored with all the tip-toeing. Lets get this new world order party kickin.

edit: hurry up my tinfoil hat is corroding because i live by the ocean :(

Yeah, because we know we can trust them to get a warrant first...but they shouldn't need one to just know the IP addresses we visited, just like the phone numbers of the call records... right... right?

The Justice Department is hoping to strengthen its fight against child pornography through the program

Don't be folled. This has *nothing* to do with Child Pornography. There are far easier methods of tracking them down than searching through *billions* of internet records.

It is simply a fun little trick they like to pull, because, after all...

The only people against this would be *for* child pornography, right? And you're all against child porn, right? So this *must* be a good thing.

*sigh*

I actually have zero issues with data retention as long as legal means are used to obtain it. It's the stupid damn ploys they try to pull to get it done.

Instead of getting the job done, their busy playing these stupid little games.

If there's something they want done nowadays, they pull the old "Child Porn" card, or the "Osama's gonna get you" card.

Why can't the government, however well-intentioned, ever just play it straight? For Pete's sake, we're all adults here. I'd rather not have to play games all day.

You have hit that one right on the head! The government is so good at using two buzzwords...."child porn" and "terrorism." Politicians know that only a complete idiot would come out in favor of either one, so it's a perfect war cry to strip us of our rights.

Those who comfort themselves with the thought that "they aren't doing anything wrong, so have nothing to fear," are so myopic they fail to realize that what's not wrong today, may well be a crime tomorrow. Or at the very least, one could easily find themselves on some sort of "watchlist" for calling or visiting a website supporting "anti-government" attitudes on abortion, political opposition and the like. It wouldn't be the first time in history to have happened. The Jewish people in Germany were "doing nothing wrong" when Hitler decided to round them up for extermination.

If the Executive and Judicial branches of gvoernment have carte blanc on deciding rights, I wonder why we have a Bill of Rights? Perhaps it's time to get rid of one or the other. Should we taxpayers be paying for FISA courts, if the President decides he can spy without a warrant? Seems like a waste of tax money.

Next up: radio dog collars that must be warn by all citizens in an effort to fight terrorism.

Next up, cameras behind the TV screens. Big Brother is watching...

Contrary to their stated stance on Child Porn and terrorism, this has *nothing* to do with either.

And seriously... your ISP is legally allowed to collect any information they want about your usage. It's their network. What they *do* with that data is bound by law, though.

Dont laugh...they already have vans that drive through the neighborhood and collect viewing data and computer data.

You aren't in Kansas anymore Toto....

So every FREE internet hotspot would have to retain data for anonymous usrs? That's not very practical and most all the current wireless routers don't even have logging capabilites. What about city wide mesh networks like going into SF, Portland, Philidelpia and so on. Plus it would be a tremondouse burden on mom and pop WISP's that are using technologies that currenlty do not have any kind of a logging mechanism.

Unbeliavable how much you can do with the word "terrorism".

"This is an invasion of our privacy!"
"But we need it to fight child porn!"
"Ick! Go right ahead then!"

Yeah, right, they need it to fight child porn hah. They start the wedge there, because nobody is willing to stand against a reductin in child porn. Then they will begin to use the information ubiquitously.

All in the name of of "safety". I refuse to believe such practices would have any other fruitful pursuits than to monitor the people of the US. Sounds like we need some serious reform. I refuse to be treated like a criminal in my own country and home. I am no criminal, I do not download or view child pornography, and I don't know anyone that does. There must be other motives here, its obvious to me.

FYI:

*Data retention is a "complicated issue with implications not only for efforts to combat child pornography but also for security, privacy, safety, and availability of low-cost or free Internet services," said Microsoft senior security strategist Phil Reitinger.

Google spokesman Steve Langdon said proposals by the United States and
European Union on data retention "require careful review and must balance the legitimate interests of individual users, law enforcement agencies, and Internet companies."

The Justice Department's chief privacy officer on Thursday met with a group of officials from rights groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for American Progress, Cato Institute, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Roehrkasse said.*

Hmmmm.. smells like the MPAA needs better data..

Also it will help in the fight against child pron..

uck 'em!