Submission + - Child Pornography Bill Makes Privacy Experts Skitt (npr.org)
An anonymous reader writes: Late last month, while Washington, D.C., was focused on the debt ceiling, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that could have long-term consequences on Internet privacy.
The bill requires all Internet service providers to save their customers' IP addresses — or online identity numbers — for a year. The bill's stated purpose is to help police find child pornographers, but critics say that's just an excuse for another step toward Big Brother.
"We have to be able to get access to the data so that law enforcement has the ability to find who these people are and arrest them and be able to rescue the children who they are horrifically abusing," says Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the Democratic co-sponsor of the "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011."
The legislation requires the Internet providers to save IP addresses just in case one of their customers turns up as a "visitor" on a child porn site. The problem is, says Wasserman Schultz, some Internet providers don't store IP addresses very long.
The number of successful child pornography prosecutions has skyrocketed in recent years. Prosecutors are hardly at a disadvantage, says forensic technologist Jeff Fischbach.
"I don't find that there's a general lack of evidence in these cases," he says.
The bill requires all Internet service providers to save their customers' IP addresses — or online identity numbers — for a year. The bill's stated purpose is to help police find child pornographers, but critics say that's just an excuse for another step toward Big Brother.
"We have to be able to get access to the data so that law enforcement has the ability to find who these people are and arrest them and be able to rescue the children who they are horrifically abusing," says Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the Democratic co-sponsor of the "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011."
The legislation requires the Internet providers to save IP addresses just in case one of their customers turns up as a "visitor" on a child porn site. The problem is, says Wasserman Schultz, some Internet providers don't store IP addresses very long.
The number of successful child pornography prosecutions has skyrocketed in recent years. Prosecutors are hardly at a disadvantage, says forensic technologist Jeff Fischbach.
"I don't find that there's a general lack of evidence in these cases," he says.
