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Cops and FBI Want Longer Access to Your Internet Data

By Jeralyn

Via C-Net:

• FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited
  

• Police want backdoor to Web users' private data

• Police survey provides glimpse of Net-surveillance figures

What's this all about? A NTIA/Commerce Department meeting yesterday for the Online Safety and Technology Working Group Meeting (OSTWG). What's NTIA?

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the executive branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on telecommunications and information policies.

What's OSTWG? [More...]

NTIA established the OSTWG pursuant to Section 214 of the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act (Act)...According to the Act, the OSTWG is tasked with evaluating industry efforts to promote a safe online environment for children. The Act requires the OSTWG to report its findings and recommendations to the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and to Congress within one (1) year after its first meeting.

Matters on agenda at yesterday's meeting:

The OSTWG will hear presentations and have discussions on online safety and technology, with an emphasis on issues relevant to the work of the subcommittees on data retention and child pornography reporting.

Here's the agenda. It is the law enforcement panel that has everyone talking and tweeting.

Law Enforcement Panel, with Q&A, moderated by

• Paul Almanza, Department of Justice
• Paul Almanza, Department of Justice (Moderator)
• Matt Dunn, Department of Homeland Security/ICE
• Dr. Frank Kardasz, AZ ICAC (Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children)
• Gerard Meyers, Iowa ICAC

Here's what I've gleaned from the twitter feed:

The panel was very confrontational (it was live-streamed and an archived version should become available)

At the meeting, the FBI's Gregg Motta said that the FBI director wants 2 year data retention for non-content data. He disagreed with a CDT paper by Nancy Libin, Chief Privacy Officer for DOJ, arguing that data retention is "invasive and risky."

Kardasz claimed that ISPs delay compliance with subpoenas and fail to retain data long enough for investigations. He suggested data be kept for 5 years. He says ISP are facilitating crime and suggested ISPs be co-defendants in child p*rn cases. Subcommittee Chair Chris Bubb from AOL called Kardasz' comments outrageous.

DOJ's Paul Almanza says it does not have a position on data retention requirements and that the lack of data retention harms investigations of crimes against children.

From one report:

[T]he strongest objection came from John Morris of the Center for Democracy & Technology, who rightly noted that no amount of government subsidies for data retention could prevent leakage of sensitive private data. For this reason and because of the basic civil liberties at stake whenever the government has access to large pools of data about its citizens, Morris argued that we need to strike a balance between how we protect children & the values of free society. Dave McClure of the US Internet Industry Association (USIIA) seconded this point powerfully: If such vast data is retained, it will be abused.

And get this: Verizon stores your e-mail forever, unless the user deletes it.

Drew Arena of Verizon says it stores information to correlate IP addresses & subscriber information for 12 months and e-mail forever.

These are two slides from one of the law enforcement presentations.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 05, 2010 (boomark / email).