More on the surveillance society

While the big telecom firms and some free speech and civil liberties groups may clash over issues like net neutrality, they agree over the fact that “data retention” mandates imposed on ISPs are risky, costly and an invasion of privacy. Demonstrating once again how the opponents and proponents of Internet regulation never seem to divide along party lines, it’s not just law-and-order Republicans seeking this new power to access records to allegedly thwart child porn and other crimes; the leading proponent according to CNet is a Democrat. Just this week, major “law and order” legislation bundling several pet projects was introduced. CNet first started promoting the story on the rise of data retention rules, and presents an “ISP snooping timeline” on the story linked here.