Justice Department takes aim at image-sharing sites

[babylonsister]

Read this; it scares the hell out of me. Can one have fear overload and outrage overload? And they claim they want to do this for MY safety? I think not.

http://news.com.com/Justice+Department+takes+aim+at+image-sharing+sites/2100-1028_3-6163679.html?tag=nefd.lede

Justice Department takes aim at image-sharing sites

Feds try during a private meeting to convince sites that allow photos or videos to be uploaded to monitor users, News.com has learned.
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com


The Bush administration has accelerated its Internet surveillance push by proposing that Web sites must keep records of who uploads photographs or videos in case police determine the content is illegal and choose to investigate, CNET News.com has learned.

That proposal surfaced Wednesday in a private meeting during which U.S. Department of Justice officials, including Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, tried to convince industry representatives such as AOL and Comcast that data retention would be valuable in investigating terrorism, child pornography and other crimes. The discussions were described to News.com by several people who attended the meeting.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice held a private meeting to persuade Internet industry representatives to keep records of who uploads photographs or videos.

A second purpose of the meeting in Washington, D.C., according to the sources, was to ask Internet service providers how much it would cost to record details on their subscribers for two years. At the very least, the companies would be required to keep logs for police of which customer is assigned a specific Internet address.

Only universities and libraries would be excluded, one participant said. "There's a PR concern with including the libraries, so we're not going to include them," the participant quoted the Justice Department as saying. "We know we're going to get a pushback, so we're not going to do that."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been lobbying Congress for mandatory data retention, calling it a "national problem that requires federal legislation." Gonzales has convened earlier private meetings to pressure industry representatives. And last month, Republicans introduced a mandatory data retention bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would let the attorney general dictate what must be stored and for how long.

more...

[Kagemusha]

1. Gonzales has made this a pet issue of his and keeps pushing it hard.

I hope the Democrats don't give an inch.

[babylonsister]

4. That's what scares me; what does Gonzo really have in mind? nt

[kenny blankenship]

2. We shall fight them on the beaches; we shall fight them on a series of tubes

called the internets. We shall fight them at the ISP and on the e-mail server. We shall never surrender; and even if, which I don't for a moment believe, this Island inside the Beltway or a part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond literacy, armed and guarded by cable television news, would carry on the struggle...

[Double T]

3. There is a GIANT PR concern about a right to privacy and freedom of expression........

it is clear that the outgrowth of 9/11 was an abusive excuse to spy of the citizens of our country. 'WE' have a constitutional crisis and what appears to be a Democratically controlled Congress that goes along to get along. Without repeal of the intrusive 'Patriot (cough-cough) Act' revolution will eventually be inevitable to put our democracy back to its original intent.

[rec_report]

5. Hi, is there a link for this one? Thanks! n/t

n/t

[babylonsister]

8. So sorry! Link included here and OP, and welcome to DU!

http://news.com.com/Justice+Department+takes+aim+at+image-sharing+sites/2100-1028_3-6163679.html?tag=nefd.lede

[dkofos]

6. Unfortunately for alberto, I believe the Dem controlled judiciary

committee will have him running scared, and answering subpoeans
for the next two years. If he lasts that long

[pitohui]

7. don't they do this already, DU certainly does

i remember specifically when a poster asked skinner why he kept a log of isp addresses when it puts him at risk of gummit subpoena and his argument seemed to be that he'd rather risk having to give away the isp addresses than have a more difficult time stopping the trolls -- in other words, our privacy is not much worth protecting if it gets in the way of something the site wants to do

if sites are already isp logging -- and they are -- it's a lost cause, nothing you do online is private anyway

if i have mischaracterized my understanding of events here, please correct me promptly, thanks