Retaining user record. What's kept now: An amendment to the 1986 Stored Comunications Act permits the federal government to request that companies with Internet services retain records and other evidence, i.e. Lists of E--Mail traffic and Web searches -- for 90 days.
What could change: The Justice Department wants records kept for up to two years to assist in terrorism and child pornography investigations. The Justice Department outlined their request to executives from Google, Microsoft, AOL, Comcast, Verizon and others.
This forces the companies to strike a balance between satisfying law enforcement demands and honoring the privacy of millions of customers. The government is asking ISPS ( Internet service providers ) to really become an arm of the government.
In the past Google balked at an earlier request saying that it would expose trade secrets. AOL, Yahoo,and Microsoft cooperated with the goverment, but they said their assistence was limited and users' privacy was not violated.
I'm in support of fighting terrorism and child porn. I'm against violating users' privacy. What other way is there to fight this other than what the government is asking of Internet services?
How do you feel about this concern? What would you recommend?
Blueblades