CNN wrote:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The attorney general and the FBI director have asked the nation's leading Internet service companies to keep a variety of customer information and other data for two years, much longer than the companies do now, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.
[...]
One thing the Justice Department wants is some type of subscriber information, such as the Internet address assigned to a person when logging on to a service provider, according to two sources familiar with a meeting that was held last week between the government and the Internet companies.
The online industry is expected to strongly oppose any request to retain these types of records because of privacy concerns for their customers.
[...]
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said government and private industry officials are continuing to discuss the privacy issues involved and some of the concerns raised by the companies at the meeting Friday at the Justice Department.
The meeting, first reported by CNET News.com, included representatives from Verizon, Comcast, AOL (which is owned by Time Warner, as is CNN.com), Microsoft, Google and the U.S. Internet Service Provider Association, the sources told CNN. Companies involved refused to comment on the meeting.
The original request for the record retention came as part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight child pornography. During a speech last month, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he would press the CEOs of Internet service providers about retaining records.
During last week's meeting, though, the FBI "made clear they wanted [information on subscribers] for other reasons as well. ... Terrorism was mentioned," one of the sources said.
[...]
One thing the Justice Department wants is some type of subscriber information, such as the Internet address assigned to a person when logging on to a service provider, according to two sources familiar with a meeting that was held last week between the government and the Internet companies.
The online industry is expected to strongly oppose any request to retain these types of records because of privacy concerns for their customers.
[...]
Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said government and private industry officials are continuing to discuss the privacy issues involved and some of the concerns raised by the companies at the meeting Friday at the Justice Department.
The meeting, first reported by CNET News.com, included representatives from Verizon, Comcast, AOL (which is owned by Time Warner, as is CNN.com), Microsoft, Google and the U.S. Internet Service Provider Association, the sources told CNN. Companies involved refused to comment on the meeting.
The original request for the record retention came as part of the Justice Department's efforts to fight child pornography. During a speech last month, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he would press the CEOs of Internet service providers about retaining records.
During last week's meeting, though, the FBI "made clear they wanted [information on subscribers] for other reasons as well. ... Terrorism was mentioned," one of the sources said.
Boy, you can just give away any details of your life and activities once the specter of terrorism is raised, huh?
