We know, it’s absolutely shocking that the police, of all people, would want your Internet service provider to store absolutely everything you do for up to eighteen months, but according to them, it’s absolutely necessary. You know, for the children.
Yep, that’s why the National Sheriff’s Association is insisting they need the info, to catch creepers for downloading child pornography. Damn those pesky civil liberties! Think of the children!
This bill is pretty wide-ranging: as currently written, pretty much any semi-public place offering an Internet connection would be required to track what people look at, something we’re sure your local Starbucks is less than enthused about. Needless to say, that’s of concern not just because, really, why do the ISPs need to track all the porn we look at and lame statuses we post on Facebook, but also because it creates a nice fat tasty pool of data for hackers to exploit. This has not exactly been at the forefront of discussions in Congress, not surprisingly.
Of course, there’s one teeny-tiny, absolutely minor, in no way serious loophole: the fact that wireless providers would not be required to retain any data whatsoever. So basically what this law would do would make the kind of creeper who downloads child pornography go outside more. That’s…that’s just great.