Tech Groups Chilly To New Internet Bill
High-tech and child safety advocates are giving new Internet safety legislation introduced last week by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Lamar Smith and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a chilly reception. Their bills, which were publicized at a Thursday press conference, direct Internet service providers to retain subscriber information for up to two years to help law enforcement identify users who upload and view explicit child pornography. The measure also makes it a crime to financially facilitate the sale, distribution and purchase of child pornography and would provide more resources to the FBI to fight the scourge.
"It's ironic that at a time when so many in Congress seemingly want online providers to collect and retain less data about users, this bill proposes that ISPs be required to collect and retain more data," Progress and Freedom Foundation Senior Fellow Adam Thierer said, wondering how the conflicting legislative priorities will be reconciled. "It's good that Congress is taking steps to address the scourge of child pornography... Extensive data retention mandates, however, would be unlikely to help much anyway given the ease with which bad guys will likely circumvent those requirements using alternative access points or proxies," he said.
The Center for Democracy and Technology General Counsel John Morris said a robust data preservation regime is already in place and new efforts in that arena pose privacy concerns. Meanwhile, the head of the U.S. Internet Service Provider Association said before advancing new legislation, it is crucial to see how current law will change with the implementation of another child safety measure, which former President George W. Bush signed in October. USISPA Executive Director Kate Dean, whose group represents AOL, AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others, said the new statute made great strides to improve investigations and prosecutions and provided more resources to law enforcement.
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