Internet service provider records

[Walt34]

I have e-mailed friends and family the same way I would in a private phone conversation. Some people have e-mailed me personal things that are for no one to read but me.

Thinking that all of these e-mails or other online activity is stored somewhere is I think a total violation of anyones privacy. I can see if it needed to be kept for a few days but years??

Jim

Very few if any ISPs store E-mail. I've never heard of one that does. Those are only stored on a server for a short time while they're "in transit" unless the user has set up their end of it to keep copies, and it is generally not the default. Imagine the huge amounts of data that would need to be kept to keep copies of all E-mail sent back and forth. I'm not sure it would even be possible.

What "they" are probably asking for is to store the originating IP addresses only. Most ISPs only keep that for a period of time ranging from zero to a few months, or in rare cases, as long as the account is active.

That said, you should realize that E-mail goes through a number of computers on the way to it's destination, and any system administrator anywhere along the way CAN read any data going through their systems if they are so inclined. And they don't even need a warrant!

But like I said, they're probably too busy, and really don't care if your Aunt Matilda had an affair with the pool boy.

If you want to be assured of privacy (at least until quantum computers are developed) use PGP or a similar product or stick to having your conversations in the Cone Of Silence.

 

[ERD50]

I find it a little funny, all this anxiety over internet privacy, having your email encrypted and so on.

It is so easy for someone to tap into your phone line - just modify a standard phone with a couple alligator clips, and you are 'in'. It would only take a little more technology to hook up a transmitter, so you could monitor it remotely. Yet, no one I know has ever mentioned trying to get an encryption device for their land line phone.

-ERD50

 

[OAG]

I find it a little funny, all this anxiety over internet privacy, having your email encrypted and so on.

It is so easy for someone to tap into your phone line - just modify a standard phone with a couple alligator clips, and you are 'in'. It would only take a little more technology to hook up a transmitter, so you could monitor it remotely. Yet, no one I know has ever mentioned trying to get an encryption device for their land line phone.

-ERD50

We pretty well covered internet security. Now how about Credit Cards which we almost all use. They do keep those records too (for a long time) and they can, of course, provide a purchase history and in many cases a travel history. Paranoia could develop over all the information tracking ability of the "system".

 

[calmloki]

Well, red leather converses are borderline.

Ok, the Pope's are cooler and after checking mine i'm embarassed to say i think they are rubber, not patent leather. Which opens up new costume avenues involving full face rubber masks and such. Oy - this could get me in more trouble with my honey than when i shaved my mustache and temp-dyed my hair black one Halloween.

I think we all have an expectation of privacy - there's little we can do to assure it, but we have that expectation. It's kind of like locks on doors - a notice to others that we would like them not to come in. The locks won't keep anyone out who doesn't mind breaking a window or putting a boot to the door. Trusting that the police are too busy to care about the torrid love letter one wrote during a sexually experimental time kind of misses the point - it's more like the gubbermint having master keys to all houses and rummaging about in our homes just on the off chance we are bomb building baby rapers. I don't care for it and doubt that the illusion of security we gain is worth the actual loss of privacy - freedom - we suffer.

Dawns on me that i have master keys to most of our places, but i tell all our tenants at move in that i have the right to be in their apartments only with their permission or to mitigate damage (smoke or water rolling out from under the door). I question just how much damage the police, and other government agencies, are mitigating.

 

[Walt34]

I question just how much damage the police, and other government agencies, are mitigating.

Going by what I seen from the list serves that I'm still on, quite a lot. Contrary to popular belief it takes more than a phone call to get that information.

It gets complicated, and the legal system has not yet caught up to the era of instant communication outside the realm of the telephone system.

Typical scenario: You sit down at your home PC and find E-mail to your 14-year-old child, either gender, from somebody requesting a meeting, the context of which implies that there has been a series of contacts in the past several months implying that she/he is "groomed". The sender is in another state and has sent bus or airline tickets.

Worse yet, your daughter is missing, and you find the E-mail.

What do you want to happen next, and how fast?

And after the child is located, there comes the issue of proving who was sitting at what keyboard and when, which is where backtracking through IP and MAC addresses comes into play. It makes the difference between the slimeball doing time or walking.

That's the reality.

If you have a better workable solution there are thousands of people waiting to hear it.

 

[chinaco]

Technology innovation and development leads (is ahead) of effective legislation to keep it from being misused (abused).

 

[Walt34]

They're all too busy; unless it's personal.

Whitewater police pursue anonymous blogger : La Crosse Tribune

Yeah, I guess in some places they're not busy enough. Nobody I know had time for anything that petty.

 

[ERD50]

I am all for the police and other authorities having more access to information to find, track, and stop bad guys.

All I ask is that there be some reasonable and effective oversight, and checks and balances, so that abuse is kept to an absolute minimum. When abuse does occur, swift corrective action must be taken, and the abusers punished (it will never be eliminated, let's be real).

I appreciate the input we are getting from people who have been there.

-ERD50