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09 Feb 2007
A bill introduced to the US House of Representatives would require ISPs to record all users' surfing activity, IM conversations and email traffic indefinitely.
The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records.
"A crime is still a crime, whether it occurs on the street or on the internet," said Congressman Smith.
"In this age of increasing digital and technological sophistication, cyber-crimes and cyber-terrorism pose a serious threat to the US. Law enforcement and the private sector must be prepared to deal with these crimes."
The bill includes a separate clause that would force the owners of sexually explicit websites to include warning labels on their web pages, or face jail.
Also included is a 20-year "jail tariff" for anyone ordering child pornography that crosses state borders, with a $150,000 fine for the ISP that allowed the transaction to take place.
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Bad law
Another infringement on freedoms granted by the bill of rights !! It is unconstitutional and should not pass !!
Posted by: John J Brion 19 Jan 2008
White Hose Cannot Comply
Why on earth would our republican reps propose a law that the the White House cannot (or more likely, will not) comply with! The WH didn't record there email and internet traffic, so why should IP servers be expected to do it? Carl Rove only wrote 130 emails since 2003? He must have a lot of time off.
Posted by: Paul 19 Jun 2007
Monitoring
The Gov't has been monitoring E-mail traffic for some time now. This new initiative is a law the ADL has been pushing for years to go after holocaust skeptics. Looks like they may get their wish.
Posted by: Mannstein 21 Feb 2007
taking of america
Do these people really believe that the American people are so blind or ignorant? Their efforts to pass laws that continuously restrcit the rights of the American people is transparent. The problem is that enough laws have been passed that the American - you live in fear of being arrested for speaking your mind, against a regime that pushes the people of America further towards a police State. Time for Americans to take their country back. It is the duty of all American citizens based on the U.S. constitution. It's not a right - IT IS A DUTY, as the founding father's wrote it.
Posted by: Pohaku Kealiiahonui 20 Feb 2007
keep away from discussion!
The REAL purpose of this bill is to scare people away from discussing current political events on the net... issue like the FACT that 9/11 was an INSIDE JOB! The goal is to isolate Americans from each other and force them back into dependence on the controlled mainstream media for news.
Posted by: eric 20 Feb 2007
American Government Afraid of its OWN PEOPLE?
The government wants to discourage you talking among yourselves--and push you back to watching the Propagandized Mainstream Media. Don't let this happen.
Posted by: bartcop 19 Feb 2007
voter's fault
This stupid and dangerous bill isn't Lamar Smith's fault. It's your fault, voter. Next election, do not vote for an incumbant, especially Dem or Rep. If we vote for a new person each time, the "lobyist" (briber) will have less time to work on the politician.
Posted by: Jeff Keller 19 Feb 2007
Smith the Traitor
Someone needs to issue a warrant for this co--suckucker. This scumbag is a traitor and he KNOWS it.
Posted by: smith 19 Feb 2007
Just a start...
The ultimate goal is for political incorrect speech to be monitored and with the "proper legislation" accompanying it, criminal charges.
Posted by: Gene 19 Feb 2007
terror and CP = free pass
Thats all authorities have to say before reducing your civil liberties or privacy off and online, because people shudder at the thought of being publicly fingered for opposing somthing that suppost to "you don't want to protect america or its children!"
Posted by: nobody 18 Feb 2007
Turnabout
> A crime is still a crime, whether it occurs on the street or on the internet," said Congressman Smith. It's a crime to wiretap citizens without a warrant and due process, so let's throw Smith in jail
Posted by: GW 16 Feb 2007
why stop there?
You might as well sue the optometrist for making the glasses that make it possible for the pervert to look at kiddie porn! Or the electric company for powering the computer, the computer manufacturer for making the computer, God for any number of things involved in the process... How do these people get into office?
Posted by: Aric 16 Feb 2007
ignorance
when I was very young my father told me to keep my mouth shut if I did not know what I was talking about and people would not see my ignorance on the subject.
Posted by: david cordes 15 Feb 2007
1984
So, use a wireless laptop with a scanner and encrypt all email sending it through a server straight from your own machine. Hell, just broadcast from your own server to begin with using hijacked IP addresses. Why not? If big bro needs a challenge - give him one. Don't forget to encrypt all cache and temp files upon rebooting afterwards.
Posted by: George Orwell 14 Feb 2007
big brother
joseph stalin is gettin a stiffy over this one way to go lamar bet u got ur butt kicked in school didnt ya
Posted by: cwazycajun 14 Feb 2007
The Lamar Smith Act
I would like to propose a bill that Lamar Smith be under constant surveillance 24 hours a day. That way, when he breaks a law, we will have the appropriate records we need in order to prosecute him to the full extent of the law.
Posted by: Mark 14 Feb 2007
Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot-Hotel?
They do realize that an ISP cannot possibly actively track every subscribers' activity, 24/7/365, right? That is utterly ill-informed, and brainless.
Posted by: Erick 14 Feb 2007
More Tax Dollars at Work
I have watched the extreme waste of our Tax Dollars to many countries over the years and now that "We are at War", the Government is shoveling it into nations faster than they can afford the man power to spend it. Our children and Grand Children will still try to pay this debt long after I am dead and gone. Our support of other Countries is killing our own country men and women. I am deeply concerned if there will even be a country left for us if we continue to over spend and invite (through threats) terriorists to attack us. Get our Tax dollars to support our own homeless, starving, and broke families. We are letting the Health Care system, and Unions dictate our cost of living with no control over their greed. Help us out, and stop this stupid spending, like will happen if such bills continue to pass through congress. This bill will take a huge amount of man power to monitor it, and again it is a waste of dollars.
Posted by: John Hopkins 14 Feb 2007
Someone missed something.
HR837 is strictly about child pornography, requiring providers who are aware to report. They are also required to retain records but not monitor IM/email/urls.. specifically Such regulations shall, at a minimum, require retention of 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 that may require production of such information. HR836 deals more with.. Sec. 1039. Concealment of security breaches involving personal information
Posted by: s 14 Feb 2007
IT monitoring
This is BS. Just a way to keep you from thinking about the Iraqi War. Costing a billion a week or more.
Posted by: Fred Greene 14 Feb 2007
article is nonsense
This article is just a troll. The bill says nothing about retaining records of email and website visits, only which real person was assigned which IP address. Maybe that could be concerning, but it's nothing like storing everything
Posted by: Midnight Rambler 13 Feb 2007
Corrections to the article required
For starters, a line to the actual bill is required if it is going to be discussed. Secondly, reading the bill, it does not require the ISP to record "everything" as it is implied in the article. As stated: "SEC. 6. RECORD RETENTION REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS. (a) Regulations- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Attorney General shall issue regulations governing the retention of records by Internet Service Providers. Such regulations shall, at a minimum, require retention of 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 that may require production of such information. (b) Failure To Comply- Whoever knowingly fails to retain any record required under this section shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, and imprisoned for not more than one year, or both." Reading the bill, it sounds pretty good. Parts could probably be revised, but that is the purpose of a bill being submitted in committee. Enjoy (and please read the bill before responding).
Posted by: Jimmy Reads the Bills 13 Feb 2007
Where is the monitoring text in the bill?
I read the bill on HR 837 IH I am an ISP. I see section6 where ISPs need to retain subscriber name, address and IP addresses assignments for a year...where did you get that ISPs will keep records of emails, IM and web site visits?
Posted by: Jeff Crews 12 Feb 2007
This is probably the most stupid IT related statement I come across in over 20 years...
I guess he forgot that the US backbone seems to be expanding in a very aggressively rate per month (16TG in 94, 140 PB in 2002), In order to put this into prospective the following qoute does justice: "The Internet Archive Wayback Machine contains almost 2 petabytes of data and is currently growing at a rate of 20 terabytes per month. (as of May 2006)[2]" Now consider that there are 232 million users just in North America, with the market growing at 114% I think it's apparent that congressman Lamar Smith need to do his math... I mean everything has it's limit and there is no country in the world that can afford this paranoia, besides there are other more present issues such as global warming to address.
Posted by: Nicco 12 Feb 2007
More Proof Congress Should Stay Out of the IT Business
So a thin disguise of national security over another attempt to ensure no one is using their computer to look at other people's naughty bits. Fining the ISP for where users surf? Maybe you ought to understand what you are talking about before you go drafting legislation. Please, go balance a budget or something....
Posted by: Hands off my internet 09 Feb 2007