ISPs in Argentina Must Log Everything

hjf writes "According to a new presidential decree, and effective July 31, 2005, telecom carriers in Argentina will have to log every activity, including Internet chats, website visits, e-mails, phone calls, etc, made in Argentina. The data must be stored for 10 years, and must be available to the police and intelligence agencies within one hour, 24 hours a day. The telecom companies must pay for 'everything': software, hardware, and human resources, and will be required to use state-of-the-art technology as soon as it is available. This news was known already in specialized circles, but only yesterday it was published in major media. This is causing outrage among legislators and businessmen. Lawyers claim that it violates privacy laws and Constitutional rights (article 14), and the 'presumptive innocence principle' (innocent until proven guilty)." (The Fish comes in handy yet again.)

Comments

You think politicians in the U.S. are bad?

[Gherald]

Fifteen years ago I moved to Argentina and lived there for 10 years. The government and police are extremely corrupt, almost mafia-like.

It's every [extended] family for themselves... they have clubs where you go barter for stuff with credit chips because the Argentine peso is worthless.

Ironically, I moved out right as the dollar became uber strong when the peso was devalued...

But I don't think this decree will amount to much do to the sheer impracticalities and economic costs of implementing such a massive log system. ISPs will either do their utmost to avoid following this to the letter, or go out of business.

P.S. People in Argentina don't care much about privacy in general. For instance, they literally have no concept of personal space and will stand like 1 cm from your face while talking to you.