Mulling over George Pope to STEVE ASHER 17 Jun 2005

SA> In theory, at least, data retention could permit successful criminal and
SA> terrorism prosecutions that otherwise would have failed because of
SA> insufficient evidence. But privacy worries and questions about the
SA> practicality of assembling massive databases of customer behavior have
SA> caused a similar proposal to stall in Europe and could engender stiff
SA> opposition domestically.

 GP> Who are we kidding?

 GP> They ALREADY log it all, but the issue is now the legal use of it
 GP> in trials! (the ISPs don't, 'tis true, but this allows the govt to
 GP> spread out the resource overhead, cuz it turns out there's a LOT
 GP> more traffic to log/keyword search than they initially planned for
 GP> when conerting ARPA into the Internet!) 

How about those situations where the logs are seized, not as evidence
of a crime, but to conceal a crime. With all the surveillance going on,
with private & public cameras, mobile phones, web sites, emails, various
text messages etc, a major crime such as an attack on the Pentagon is
likely to be recorded on things like service station surveillance tapes.
Those wishing to conceal evidence of such a crime would quickly swoop
and seize the tapes to prevent public scrutiny. (Not that anything like
that scenario could possibly happen :))

 GP> What we all need to remember is that the Internet is a creation of
 GP> the U.S. military -- and they don't do anything frivolously(ok,
 GP> $200,000 screwdrivers, but I digress. . .) so we KNOW the Internet
 GP> is still in their ultimate control! 

This is where "e-government" comes in. Not only will people be
"encouraged"
to do business with the Govt. online, they will be compelled to, if they
want whatever "benefit" they are seeking, from access to a public library 
to a permit to visit a national park or a passport.

Cheers, Steve..

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