Cyber Law and Privacy – Is The Game Going to Change Once Again?
On your personal computer are many things, private things, and things
which are no one else’s business. Bank account numbers, private emails,
and all sorts of things. Likewise, when you go online to search various
things – that’s your business, perhaps you are planning on going to a
movie, out to dinner, or shopping for a gift. It’s really none of anyone
else’s business. Unfortunately, authorities would have you believe that
it is their business.
Well, that’s a scary thought really, especially in the wake of the
tabloid scandal listening in on voice mails of the families of murder
victims in England. Let’s discuss all this for a moment shall we?
There was an interesting article on SlashDot (News for Geeks
Recently) titled “Law Enforcement Still Wants Mandatory ISP Log
Retention” posted by Soulskill on July 12, 2011 who cites Schwit1 from
CNET, which stated;
“Law enforcement representatives are planning to endorse a proposed
federal law that would require ISPs to store logs about their customers
for 18-months, and a board member of the National Sheriffs’ Association
says ISPs do not store customer records long enough. ‘The limited data
retention time and lack of uniformity among retention from company to
company significantly hinders law enforcement’s ability to identify
predators when they come across child pornography’. They want any stored
logs available to be used to prosecute any type of crime.”
Okay so, I want to collect and prosecute the bad guys and evil-doers
as much as anyone else. I have no use for drug dealers, child molesters,
murderers, or anyone else that would create heinous crimes against
humanity for that matter. However, I also know that in our Constitution
our personal belongings are not to be searched or seized without our
permission. And no government official, or police are allowed to enter
your home and look at your personal belongings, personal journal, or
anything else that you own.
So then, why is it okay to command ISPs, and cloud computing
companies to save data and information that is personal, even when
you’ve deleted it, or don’t wish that information to be collected? Yes, I
don’t doubt that it could help solve crimes, and it would be nice to
solve crimes, I really believe that. But certainly not at the expense of
personal freedom, this is the United States of America still. And if
the National Sheriff’s Association is able to lobby such a law into
existence, one could ask exactly how they are helping the American
people or protecting them?
After all, The National Sheriff’s Association is supposed to be
protecting people, and protecting their rights, and they are even swear
to uphold the law and constitution, so may I ask why they are lobbying
to take away rights from citizens and go against the law of the land? I
find this fascinating. I also find it quite troubling, and if you love
freedom and liberty you to understand. Indeed I hope you will please
consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain,
and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing
24,000 articles by July 24, 2011 is going to be difficult because all
the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now.