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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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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