ISP's May Reveal Customer Data

[llbbl]

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,67674,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7

The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to restore its ability to compel Internet service providers to turn over information about their customers or subscribers as part of its fight against terrorism.

The legal filing with the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York comes amid a debate in Congress over renewal of the Patriot Act and whether to expand the FBI's power to seek records without the approval of a judge or grand jury.

So does this mean that anyone caught downloading copyrighted material has to worry about the government using this free reign on ISP data to prosecute them? It seems like FBI has nothing better to do these days. I don't really see how this ISP information is going to help them catch terrorist's any better do you all?

If this goes through expect to get a call from the FBI if you are looking at stuff online like how to build a bomb or on hacking.

[ECA]

Fun aint it...

and how much terrorism has been caused sence 9/11?? That has or hasnt been seen.

[Ioman]

Great....The U.S. is getting tighter more and more. Pretty soon there will be laws in place that show us how to properly use our own toilets.

[ECA]

I waiting for laws forbidding electrical outlets, because you MIGHT get shocked.

[llbbl]

kiss more of your civil liberties good bye for the sake of "freedom"

[llbbl]

Here is some good reform.

Support DMCA Reform - Help Pass HR 1201!

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been wreaking havoc on consumers' fair use rights for the past seven years. Now Congress is considering the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act (DMCRA, HR 1201), a bill that would reform part of the DMCA and formally protect the "Betamax defense" relied on by so many innovators.

HR 1201 would give citizens the right to circumvent copy-protection measures as long as what they're doing is otherwise legal. For example, it would make sure that when you buy a CD, whether it is copy-protected or not, you can record it onto your computer and move the songs to an MP3 player. It would also protect a computer science professor who needs to bypass copy-protection to evaluate encryption technology. In addition, the bill would codify the Betamax defense, which has been under attack by the entertainment industries in the "INDUCE Act" last year and the MGM v. Grokster case currently before the Supreme Court. This kind of sanity would be a welcome change to our copyright law.

Last year we sent 30,000+ letters of support for the DMCRA, and the bill got a hearing on Capitol Hill. It's time to double that number - take action at the link below, then urge your friends and family to support HR 1201, too!

https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=uqzfz3rf21.app8a&page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=115

Now for the crappy part.

Say No to New PATRIOT Spying Powers

The Senate Intelligence Committee is currently considering a draft bill that would not only renew the USA PATRIOT Act's worse provisions, but would also expand the government's power to secretly demand the private records of people who aren't suspected of any crime - without a judge's approval.

The Justice Department already has dangerously broad subpoena powers under the USA PATRIOT Act. PATRIOT Section 215 allows intelligence investigators to demand all kinds of private records about citizens who aren't suspected of spying or terrorism. PATRIOT Section 505, meanwhile, expanded the government's ability to use "National Security Letters" to secretly obtain data on private online and financial activities without court oversight or probable cause.

The new bill not only makes these highly controversial provisions permanent, it marries the worst aspects of the two, allowing new "administrative subpoenas" in national security cases that would let the government secretly demand all types of records without a judge's permission.

The Justice Department tried to get this super-charged subpoena power inserted into PATRIOT back in 2001. But even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Congress refused to allow this kind of unchecked surveillance power.

If you are a resident of Kansas, Utah, Ohio, Missouri, Maine, Nebraska, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, California, Oregon, Indiana, Maryland, or New Jersey, your senator is on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Contact them below.

https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=133

Let me know if those links don't work.

[llbbl]

woohoo go Sony! (may you all die pennyless) Thanks for reminding me why I hate that company so much.

As part of its mounting U.S. rollout of content-enhanced and copy-protected CDs, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is testing technology solutions that bar consumers from making additional copies of burned CD-R discs.

Since March the company has released at least 10 commercial titles -- more than 1 million discs in total -- featuring technology from U.K. anti-piracy specialist First4Internet that allows consumers to make limited copies of protected discs, but blocks users from making copies of the copies.

http://weblog.physorg.com/news2010.html