[Big Mac]

FBI Director Muller is asking for backbone monitoring and comprehensive records retention. Put the two of these together and the government has the ability to snoop on all Internet traffic and link it to its sources. I won't be surprised when Congress rolls over and gives the FBI all the power it wants to spy indiscriminately on American and world traffic. As I've said before, we'll probably remember this period in history as the twilight of Internet freedom.

Slashdot | FBI Wants Authority To Filter Net Backbone

Slashdot | FBI Renews Push for ISP Data Retention Laws

[Dakar the Fourth]

Sometimes, I'm amazed it's lasted this long.

I bought a time capsule on Amazon yesterday, taking a moment to reflect on the fact that I can still manage to dodge sales tax on the internet. I wonder how long this will last as well.

[Doofy]

It's time the Internet was taken out of US control.

Sorry guys, but your government (of all sides) are donkeyorifices.

[Big Mac]

I was going to say that even if ICANN no longer answered to Uncle Sam, it wouldn't change the fact that backbones are located in the U.S.. But then I thought about it and decided, you know what, if the FBI is brazen enough to ask for these things then may be all of America's Internet infrastructure has to be turned over to an international body of some sort. The Internet is an international resource and should not be interfered with by an increasingly rapacious government of the United States. If that's what has to happened, though, just don't give to the U.N. and I'll be satisfied.

The other thing that occurs to me is that if the FBI starts pulling crap like this and snoops on international data, won't the lawsuits start flying from countries that value privacy as a component of liberty?

[subego]

The only solution is crypto.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by subego 

The only solution is crypto.

Technically speaking I suppose, assuming the crypto is accessible and secure. I guess another technical defense is scripting random keyword searches to keep Freddie, Bernie and Irving nice and busy.

But legally speaking, I think it's time to think about a Constitutional amendment expanding the 4th amendment to electronic communications.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by subego 

The only solution is crypto.

Dan Brown, is that you?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

But legally speaking, I think it's time to think about a Constitutional amendment expanding the 4th amendment to electronic communications.

Good luck. I think I read something recently where a cCourt overturned a lower appeals court verdict that the contents of laptop were to be considered an extension of our own memory. I don't think that bodes well for when it comes to similar technology or its transmissions.

Hang on, let me see if I dig it up...

Edit: Here it is.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth 

Sometimes, I'm amazed it's lasted this long.

I bought a time capsule on Amazon yesterday, taking a moment to reflect on the fact that I can still manage to dodge sales tax on the internet. I wonder how long this will last as well.

If you live in New York State you won't be able to dodge internet sales tax past June. That's when a new law comes into effect here requiring companies who sell to NY residents over the internet to register and collect taxes. It sucks.

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by Zeeb 

If you live in New York State you won't be able to dodge internet sales tax past June. That's when a new law comes into effect here requiring companies who sell to NY residents over the internet to register and collect taxes. It sucks.

I've been waiting for state legislators to "solve" the problem.

Hell, millions of Californians are probably lying on their tax returns not claiming purchases they made on the internet they owe state tax for.

[lefty mclefty]

i implicitly trust my government to only do what is best for me....i will be reporting you treasonous posters to Homeland Security....

[brassplayersrock²]

troll

[selowitch]

The states have got to realize that if they charge their own residents Internet sales tax, it's going to recreate an incentive for people to pick up and migrate to another state. That can't be in their best interests.

[Railroader]

[deleted]

[Timo]

Originally Posted by selowitch 

The states have got to realize that if they charge their own residents Internet sales tax, it's going to recreate an incentive for people to pick up and migrate to another state. That can't be in their best interests.

You would migrate because of an internet sales tax?

[peeb]

Originally Posted by brassplayersrock² 

troll

Don't you mean "terrorist"?

[tie]

I don't have anything to hide.

I've always wondered about some of the other people on this forum, though. Finally we'll be able to know whether those people yelling that Iraq has WMDs really are Al Qaeda plants.

[peeb]

Tie - that's a troll, I presume?

[Andrew Stephens]

Originally Posted by subego 

The only solution is crypto.

But how!

[tie]

Originally Posted by peeb 

Tie - that's a troll, I presume?

No, I really don't have anything to hide. The biggest motivation for setting up this kind of surveillance is in politics. I think the Democrats are going to take control of the executive branch next year, and if the Republicans want to start the process now of giving us the tools to subvert democracy so we remain in power forever, why would I stop them?

[peeb]

Erm, because they, too, would abuse unfettered power?

[Sherman Homan]

Hand it over to FEMA. That way the government would have complete, absolute, total control of nothing.

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

Hand it over to FEMA. That way the government would have complete, absolute, total control of nothing.

Somehow FEMA was scarier in Deus Ex.

I do hope the US doesn't give in to pressure groups demanding the end of privacy. I am one of those people who under no circumstance trust any government to be competent, which is why I am by default against giving the same government any power to affect the populace without going through the beaurocracy.

[tie]

I find it very amusing that we have parts of our government that seem to be dedicated to attacking our own country. That's how I think this proposal has to be interpreted. It falls in place with the Pentagon's work to subvert our media organizations with propaganda, revealed last week. And there are other examples, as well. You'd expect this from an enemy of the US (Russia? China?) but not from our own government. I think this is a good sign that their budgets are too high.

[spacefreak]

It's been going on for a while. If you haven't gotten used to that fact, or the fact that monitoring will continue, perhaps you should consider doing so. It will save you tons of emotional energy.

Carnivore (FBI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Carnivore: Implemented during the Clinton administration with the approval of Attorney General Janet Reno, Carnivore is a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is analogous to wiretapping, except in this case, e-mail and other communications are being tapped instead of telephone conversations. Carnivore is a customizable packet sniffer that can monitor all of a target user's Internet traffic. [...]

The software grew from an earlier FBI project called Omnivore. Omnivore began in February 1997, and was then rebranded. After prolonged negative coverage in the press, the FBI changed the name of its system from "Carnivore" to the more benign-sounding "DCS1000." DCS is reported to stand for "Digital Collection System"; the system has the same functions as before. The three separate packages Carnivore, Packeteer and CoolMiner, are referred to as the DragonWare Suite.

Fox News [2] reported in mid-January 2005 that the FBI has essentially abandoned the use of Carnivore in 2001, in favor of commercially available software.

[spacefreak]

Originally Posted by tie 

...the Pentagon's work to subvert our media organizations with propaganda, revealed last week.

What, by providing them with information about the war? That's nonsense. I have no problems with the Pentagon briefing these people.

I do however feel that those analysts who perform work on behalf of military contractors had a conflict of interest. But that fault is on an individual level, and between that particular analyst and the media companies that featured them.

So I don't accept your premise. However, if I were to accept it, I'd be in support of it. We are at war, and it's imperative that we are successful. If the enemy can use propaganda to great effect, then I say we can as well. And we all know that our enemies love watching our cable news programs.

[tie]

Originally Posted by spacefreak 

However, if I were to accept it, I'd be in support of it. We are at war, and it's imperative that we are successful. If the enemy can use propaganda to great effect, then I say we can as well. And we all know that our enemies love watching our cable news programs.

By "enemies" do you mean Democrats?

[peeb]

Originally Posted by tie 

...we have parts of our government that seem to be dedicated to attacking our own country... You'd expect this from an enemy of the US (Russia? China?) but not from our own government...

Where have you been for the past 50 years?