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Sonic.net's CEO On Why ISPs Should Only Keep User Logs Two Weeks

Posted by timothy on from the privacy-has-value dept.

Sparrowvsrevolution writes "Dane Jasper's tiny Internet service provider Sonic.net briefly took the national spotlight last October, when it contested a Department of Justice order that it secretly hand over the data of privacy activist and WikiLeaks associate Jacob Appelbaum. But Sonic.net has actually been quietly implementing a much more fundamental privacy measure: For the past eighteen months it's only kept logs of user data for two weeks before deletion, compared with 18 to 36 months at Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner and other ISPs. In a lengthy Q&A, he explains how he came to the decision to limit logging after a series of shakedowns by copyright lawyers attempting to embarrass users who had downloaded porn films, and he argues that it's time all ISPs adopt the two-week rule."

9 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. excellent good sense by waterbear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    excellent good sense, what more can one say?

    -wb-

  2. Shocking! by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is truly shocking that some people resist the idea of the police state! If for your own good! Think of the children! The only people with anything to hide are terrorists and criminals!

    Face it, folks. The bottom line is, our governments and the corporations that control them, want a police state. They are afraid of freedom, and they will go to any lengths to limit freedom. Badmouthing the president is cause for the Secret Service to put a bullseye on you, and your communications channels. Exposing fraud in the corporate world is reason to haul your ass through the court system, and to take everything you own, along with everything that you might ever hope to own. And, cheating an author out of a dollar of royalties? Phht - ten years in prison sounds about right - to the police state, anyway.

    --
    "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    1. Re:Shocking! by Runaway1956 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Basically - I have things that I hide. I share some strange humor with some buddies. I share intimate moments with other people. I share some silly moments with other people. My life is sort of compartmentalized - as most people's lives are. The people I ride bikes with would see some of my silly moments with little kids in a way that I might not appreciate. And, the females with whom I am intimate wouldn't appreciate having tales spread around town. Think about it. Your parents, your siblings, your buddies, your kids, nieces and nephews, and your workmates aren't interchangeable, are they?

      As for other important matters - perhaps I am working to have a sick criminal representative exposed, impeached, and run out of Washington. Do you think that representative should be empowered to put me under surveillance, with the goal of neutralizing me through blackmail, or murder, or some bogus judicial action?

      Show me a person with nothing to hide, and I'll show you a moron without a life. Retards in institutions have nothing to hide, after all. Are you an institutionalized moron?

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    2. Re:Shocking! by awrowe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is such a bullshit argument! It is not necessary to have something to hide to desire privacy. Government is there to facilitate lawful activity by its citizens, not to oversee every aspect of a citizen's activities. Innocence before proven guilt is the doctrine here. Trotting out the "nothing to fear, nothing to hide" argument just makes you part of the problem.

      --
      A.I. Research. The peculiar science in which we know the question and we know the answer, but can't show the working
    3. Re:Shocking! by Inda · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are people who are happy to share their lives. There are people who are not happy to share their lives.

      I propose we call these people extroverts and introverts.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    4. Re:Shocking! by LordLucless · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Please post the names, addresses and photographs of every woman you've had sexual relations with. Publish your own home address, phone number, social security number and credit card details. Post a list of every digital purchase you've made, every website you've visited.

      Failure to do so reveals you for the hypocrite you are. Yes, people have things to hide. No, things people are hiding aren't necessarily bad, or any of your freaking business.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    5. Re:Shocking! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "What's going on isn't Big Brother snooping in on your every little detail."

      That statement is less true with every passing minute

  3. Give it a few months... by s0litaire · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if more ISP's jump on the 2-week "band-waggon" you'll quickly see one of the next "Defence Appropriations Bill" (or something like that) have a little addition sneaked in by someone in Homeland Security to legally require ISP's to hold 12 months of Logs/Emails.

    Just like what's happening in the UK...

    --
    Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
  4. Why Privacy? by Aragorn+DeLunar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because a government that can search any person at any time can falsely incriminate anyone, and motives for doing so are abundantly self-evident.

    "During a routine anti-terrorism sweep, civil liberties activist John Doe was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, child pornography, explosive-making material, and pirated ABBA songs. He was immediately taken into custody and is being held at an undisclosed location for the public's safety..."

    Right now we have an important check in the form of a search warrant. Before searching me, a law enforcement agent must demonstrate to a judge probable cause that I have committed, or will commit, a crime. It's not perfect, and there are notable loopholes, but at least there is some documentation and accountability.

    --
    Cynicism, like dogmatism, can be an excuse for intellectual laziness. - Susan Shirk