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."

Comments

Why stop there?

[Toe, The]

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.

Re:Why stop there?

[mr1911]

Your post is in jest and modded funny. Unfortunately it is right on for what the "authorities" would like, except the blog is posted for you by your phone, computer, ISP, neighbor, bank, employer, and cameras covering public places.

It is for safety. Just not yours.

Re:Why stop there?

[Stormthirst]

They do already. It's called Facebook. It's just not a requirement. Yet.

Re:Why stop there?

[Hoi Polloi]

China called, they want their security apparatus back.

I'll predict how the logs will look

[TrueKonrads]

[10/Oct/2012:13:55:36 -0700] "CONNECT https://www.hydemyass.com/ HTTP/1.0" 200 2326

Another example of clueless legislators...

[Iphtashu Fitz]

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...

Let HI internet access go dark

[snobody]

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.

Re:Let HI internet access go dark

[Tsingi]

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.

You mean the balls to go out of business?
OTOH they could send the data to the government on a weekly basis and let them sink or swim.

Where would you like that sent sir?

No one uses the cliche "1984" anymore, we're living it.

Re:Let HI internet access go dark

[MozeeToby]

You mean the balls to go out of business?

Sad but yes. Would you help the empire build the Death Star?

Re:Let HI internet access go dark

[houstonbofh]

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.

You mean the balls to go out of business?

1) You can also go out of business by being mandated costs you cannot afford.

2) Most companies providing Internet in the US now are multi-state, so dropping one would not end their corporate existence.

But, if this applies to hotel Internet as well, I could see the hotels dropping it, and if all the tourists suddenly go WTF together...

Re:Let HI internet access go dark

[rgbscan]

My friend here's trying to convince me that any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when it was destroyed by the Rebels. But I know a contractor listens to his heart when taking on a job :-)

Re:illegal regulation of interstate commerce?

[goldspider]

I would argue that the Interstate Commerce clause doesn't give the federal government the authority to monitor private communications either. Statists are entitled to their opinions, I suppose.

Pollute the data

[blackfireuponus]

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.

Umm, what?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

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?

Re:illegal regulation of interstate commerce?

[dkleinsc]

Specifically, the Fourth Amendment eliminates the authority of the federal government to monitor private communications (as interpreted by SCOTUS, phone calls, emails, etc are considered part of the 'papers and effects'), and the Fourteenth Amendment means the same rule also applies to the states.

Not that that's really going to stop this sort of thing from being implemented, since the only opposition will come from those without political power.

Re:camera on head time?

[houstonbofh]

Camera on head time,grafted to skulls?

No... That could film the police. Can't have that.

Re:camera on head time?

[houstonbofh]

Thanks for the +5, but this was not intended to be funny.

Not possible

[Charliemopps]

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.

Hawaii resident, here

[Anonymous Coward]

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.