Why do we even need to build one if we dont need to turn it on? If it supposedly gets the results by having it run in a "parallel" world, why not have it built in the parallel world as well? Seems like it'd be much easier that way.
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that an ISP would monitor any user. Mail is commonly backed up with machine backups. These commonly go back for months, and can be retrieved w/ a subpeona (mainly occurring in child porn cases). As someone suggested earlier in their comments, ISPs are required (for legal reasons) to keep logs and such. I never said that ISPs monitor browsing habits (That would be fairly difficult) or logged anything other than connect/disconnect times. My Mail comment was mainly implying that systems get backed up, and so does your mail.
The ISP I worked for had tens of thousands of users when we were bought by another ISP and that ISP was then purchased by another. The first ISP was a national ISP, the second was an International ISP w/ millions of users and they definately keep logs (as do most ISPs via RADIUS).
RADIUS logs are from the hardware you log into, they pass on the IP address, time of connect, username, and password, and when they disconnect they send the username, ip address, and time of disconnect. RADIUS is the Authentication/Accounting server software that most ISPs use (as it is supported by most dialup hardware). With the username you can then look up in your Customer database such information, as Name, Address and Telephone #.
Actually, IP addresses are quite useful, as they can be tracked back the the ISP, who, in most cases, will have logs going back to the beginning of operations. All you need to do is provide the IP address in question and a time period in which to look and they can provide all users who connected during that time period, which is a very simple process. Obviously this isn't information you release w/out a court order, but it is also used internally for combatting abusers (SPAM, hackers, etc). You may also find it interesting that your ISP probably has backups of your mail going back months. Received any kiddie porn lately?
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Why do we even need to build one if we dont need to turn it on? If it supposedly gets the results by having it run in a "parallel" world, why not have it built in the parallel world as well? Seems like it'd be much easier that way.
Anyone read Timeline by Michael Crichton?
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that an ISP would monitor any user. Mail is commonly backed up with machine backups. These commonly go back for months, and can be retrieved w/ a subpeona (mainly occurring in child porn cases). As someone suggested earlier in their comments, ISPs are required (for legal reasons) to keep logs and such. I never said that ISPs monitor browsing habits (That would be fairly difficult) or logged anything other than connect/disconnect times. My Mail comment was mainly implying that systems get backed up, and so does your mail.
The ISP I worked for had tens of thousands of users when we were bought by another ISP and that ISP was then purchased by another. The first ISP was a national ISP, the second was an International ISP w/ millions of users and they definately keep logs (as do most ISPs via RADIUS).
RADIUS logs are from the hardware you log into, they pass on the IP address, time of connect, username, and password, and when they disconnect they send the username, ip address, and time of disconnect. RADIUS is the Authentication/Accounting server software that most ISPs use (as it is supported by most dialup hardware). With the username you can then look up in your Customer database such information, as Name, Address and Telephone #.
Actually, IP addresses are quite useful, as they can be tracked back the the ISP, who, in most cases, will have logs going back to the beginning of operations. All you need to do is provide the IP address in question and a time period in which to look and they can provide all users who connected during that time period, which is a very simple process. Obviously this isn't information you release w/out a court order, but it is also used internally for combatting abusers (SPAM, hackers, etc). You may also find it interesting that your ISP probably has backups of your mail going back months. Received any kiddie porn lately?