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Hawaiian Bill Would Force ISPs to Track Users' Web Histories For 2 Years
New submitter mazinger writes "In Hawaii, a bill has been proposed to retain data on Internet users and the sites they visit. Apparently, there is also no requirement for a warrant to obtain the information from service providers. The bill affects not only ISPs but also coffee shops and anyone providing Internet access."
Why not just force every citizen to post a continuous blog of their every activity at every moment of every day for all time?
That way, we could all rest assured that our safety is being protected.
[10/Oct/2012:13:55:36 -0700] "CONNECT https://www.hydemyass.com/ HTTP/1.0" 200 2326
Lone Gunmen crew.
One might claim since so much of web commercial activity is trans-border, only the feds can pass this type of law.
Hawaiians, vote this bill down!
You see, I'm an internet Troll. I have no life. I do this because I'd drink ....well, I take that back. I drink and Troll.
If you vote for this and it spreads to other states, I'd have no choice but to hang out in front of Apple Stores with a sandwich board that says nasty things about Apple users.
Then, after I call a few men "Apple Fags",. they'd kick my ass and send me to the hospital. Now since I'm unemployed, I have no health insurance which means the hospitial will have to eat it. They then will pass the costs on to insured patients thereby increasing the overall costs of healthcare hurting you!
So, vote this bill down so that we all can keep healthcare costs down!
Once again we see a proposed law that will only impact law abiding people (and be a major invasion of their privacy to boot).
If I was intent on covering my tracks I could take so many routes:
- Download Tor and use it to privatize all my browsing
- Search for open SOCKS proxies, etc. to exploit
- Rent a VPS out of state and set up a proxy on it
and any one of hundreds of other approaches to take...
If the ISPs had any balls, they'd tell the HI government that, if they pass this law, the ISPs would simply cease to provide internet service to HI residents. And if they do pass the bill, make good on the promise. It's either that or be forced by the HI government to buy terabytes of disk space and thousands of dollars of computers to track everything the HI internet user does. Politicians should not make laws about technology that they don't understand.
Now McDonald's is using SMS to log identities. This means now only the big guys can afford offer free Internet access.
Just another way to crush the little guy.
The only way to fight this in the long run is data pollution.
I heard about it in another thread that Pirate Bay adds fake IP addresses to the real ones.
In the long run more sophisticated tools for this purpose will emerge, and Anon can graduate from the LOIC to something that will have a permanent impact.
We won SOPA, and a major website is taken down the next day.
It is obvious that preventing laws like this is not going to stop data retention in the long run.
The path forward is to destroy the credibility of the data they collect.
How about if people propose and pass a law specifically banning ISPs from tracking their users or keeping logs on their web histories under any circumstances?
Does anybody have any idea what suddenly possessed Hawaii to freak out about that 'internet' thing that those hackers and terrorists are using?
Has the state been chosen as a soft target in which to pass model legislation by some sinister entertainment industry and/or surveillance state interest group? Is some two-bit local senator trying to weather a 'caught-with-2.5-prostitutes-in-a-blood-soaked-bed' scandal? Are radical Hawaiian nativists waging a guerrilla war to re-establish the monarchy? WTF?
about technology that they don't understand."
In point of fact Politicians should not make laws about any issue (technological or otherwise) that they don't understand!!
Camera on head time,grafted to skulls?
No... That could film the police. Can't have that.
His companion computer crime bill appears to make stealing your neighbors WiFi a felony, that is, if it isn't already.
"unauthorized computer access in the 3rd degree from a misdemeanor to a class C felony." Or if you get online somehow without being "documented" so maybe VPN connections or SSH?
Another "democrat" has stuck another bill in there with the same wording most likely in case one doesn't make it through the other will, seeing a lot fo this the same bill different names, sneaky.
This seems thuggish and since the records are open to anyone (except most likely the actual person being documented) it appears to have other uses in mind.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Thanks for the +5, but this was not intended to be funny.
I work for an ISP and was involved in a project in which we were just trying to monitor DHCP requests from users for a study... The size of the log files were upwards of 6gigabytes per DAY. If we actually tried to track and time stamp every IP they hit? It wouldn't even be remotely possible. The amount of data and the numbers of people and software required to pull it off would dwarf our entire operation. And that's BEFORE everyone starts messing with the system. People could just set up scripts to randomly ping IPs all day long and it would devastate any logging system in short order. There's no way the ISPs would put up with this.
hold the sarcasm please.
the contents of a phone call is protected solidly with laws re; privacy.. so too is the content of an envelope.
but the fact that I called someone? and what number I called? and how long I was on the line? not so protected.
They don't want the content of every packet.. they want to tie the endpoint IP's and timestamps... to a person....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
if (fine < cost_to_comply)
ignore_law();
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Hopefully to be modded into the light of day...
There are two sides to Hawaii: Honolulu/Oahu (and parts of Maui) are developed places with real infrastructure, but the rest of the state is generally a depressed backwater with pockets of third-world conditions.
The Big Island is home to many huge subdivisions which have no consumer broadband: Telcom won't deploy DSL, and the cable company won't bother because it's not profitable -- this even includes parts of Hilo, which is the most-developed town on the east side of the island. Dial-up internet is very common here, but there are even places with no POTS service.
Increasing the costs of something we don't already have is the surest way to make sure these services are never deployed, which makes me really wonder about the underlying agenda.
So the rationale for this legislation is that some state representative is distressed by the potential for losing a popularity contest with a person who claims she owes them money? For that they're going to start spying on everyone in the state?
... either way, keep your friggin' grubby paws off the internet!
If she has an issue with this individual, the courts provide redress for her to sue him on the basis of slander (if it's not true); if it is true, then the person who's putting up the information has a rightful claim to make it in a public venue (like the internet). So pay the bill lady or take it to court
I am writing in opposition to HB 2288, which if enacted will impose onerous reporting requirements on anyone providing Internet access in the State of Hawaii and expose the citizens of Hawaii to the possible exposure of their online habits.
This Bill requires any "company that provides access to the Internet" (sec. 1, line 6-7) to "retain customer records" including "each subscriber's information and internet destination history information" for "no less than two years" (sec. 1, lines 14-17). The "internet destination history information" is to include the Internet protocol address, domain name, or host name of every destination contacted by a subscriber.
It is no business of the State (or my Internet provider, for that matter) what sites I visit on the Internet. Most Internet providers currently have their subscribers' information, but very few record the destination of the subscribers' connections. This Bill would impose a requirement on all Internet providers to record and retain this information, which would require a large investment in equipment and network configuration expertise to achieve.
It is also unclear to whom this Bill would apply. Clearly the intent is for it to apply to Internet Service Providers, but given the language of "company that provides access to the Internet", it could be held to apply to coffe shops, hotels, Internet cafes, or even the individual who fails to secure a wireless home Internet router. For even moderately busy providers, this would be a huge amount of data which must be recorded and stored.
More importantly, there is no provision in this Bill to safeguard the information collected. Data on an individual's Internet traffic habits could be extremely sensitive - for example, an employer might be able to discover that an employee participates in workplace safety discussions from his/her home, information that the individual might not want the employer to know about. Under this Bill, there is no prohibition against Internet providers selling this sensitive customer information to anyone,
nor are there any provisions requiring judicial review before the State (police, prosecutors, etc.) acquire these records.
As the manager of a corporate Internet-connected network, would this Bill require me to monitor all of my organization's users' Internet traffic? That would be a huge invasion of their privacy. If not, then the Bill is useless, since all traffic from my organization appears (to my upstream provider) to come from a single Internet address. How would this Bill accomplish anything in this case?
In summary, this is a poorly thought out, fundamentally flawed Bill that would do nothing to solve any current or even perceived problem, would impose onerous data retention and reporting requirements on all providers of Internet connectivity, and would expose the citizens of Hawaii to an unprecedented invasion of their privacy. I urge you to reject this Bill.
When your country (and the world) is going to shit all around you, the only thing you can really do is laugh.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)