FBI Director Asking ISPs To Track Users

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October 20, 2006 | 8 Comments

What is this world coming to? Microsoft wants to track us via a new OS and keep tabs on registration activities, virus protection and more…and now, now the FBI is asking our ISP services to keep tabs on our travels along the internet by recording our private moves.

I’m against this. I feel my privacy is being invaded more and more each day with the new fears that have overcome the world. FBI Director, Rober Mueller, requested this Tuesday that Internet Service Providers record their customers’ activities online.

“Terrorists coordinate their plans cloaked in the anonymity of the Internet, as do violent sexual predators prowling chat rooms,” Mueller was quoted as saying at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Boston.

They are encouraging the same ideas as the Bush administration officials that are also pushing hard for private firms to be held responsible in recording information about customers. They claim that the issue is National but should be handled via federal legislation.

This idea is going to show up in 2007 as they did not have enough time to push it through US Congress prior to the elections that are quickly upon us. Law enforcement is in agreement with this law due to their claims that by the time they get to the ISP for background information on law breakers on the Internet, the information has been wiped or not held and is lost to them as evidence.

Now, they are making things a little more clear by asking that the information only be kept for 90 days by the ISP and ONLY when asked by the FBI prior…but I still feel this is a huge step toward keeping our private lives public. I’m not comfortable with this at all.

Would you search for ISPs that did not follow the law if this was to go into effect? Do you feel this is crossing a line of privacy that has not previously been crossed? Does this concern you?

amorefelina....i am intrested in what other ways there are to do this besides tracking activities online for everyone...there are many many people who are terrorists that the goverments do not know about. Myself and a friend did an exercise in June 2003 and that was to see if we could use the internet to our advantage to plant a bomb...and guess what we could. Now if we were for real then many people could have been kiiled .....and we would have never been known to the goverment......

I have nothing to hide but that doesn't mean I should give up the "little" things like "rights" just to appease the government and their war on crime/terror. I feel that there are other ways to do this besides taking steps to track activities online for everyone. Why should I be "guilty until proven innocent" in this case when any other case I'm "innocent until proven guilty"? If they have a warrant the proper reason to investigate someone then the ISP should be forced to disclose. This way they go through a papertrail of evidence and appropriate investigations just like anything. If we allow this then we should allow them 90 days in our home without a warrant to track our moves in person right?

I can understand the fact that the FBI which to have any means to help in the fight against Terrorists. The information from ISP might or would help alot. But the way i see it is that we are already becoming slaves to the big machine (The goverments of the worlds) and we the people are having to give up more and more of our private lifes in order for theses goverments (that we put there let me remind you all) to help fight threats to our country. This FBI "idea" will spread to other countrys Now we all enjoy our private lifes and we as humans should have privacy. (and yes there is a but) But if you have nothing to hide then maybe just maybe you might be willing to give up a little of "your" privacy to help your goverments fight this threat to our world and hopefully make your country safer! If you dont like somthing your goverments do then you all have a voice...so use it only the people as a whole can make a change.....