Security,Internet providers must keep user logs

Security,Internet providers must keep user logs
Law enforcement representatives are planning to endorse a proposed federal law that would require Internet service providers to store logs about their customers for 18 months.The National Sheriffs' Association will say it "strongly supports" mandatory data retention during Tuesday's U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the topic.

Michael Brown,sheriff in Bedford County,Va.,and a board member and executive committee member of the National Sheriffs' Association, is planning to argue that a new law is necessary because Internet providers 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," according to a copy of Brown's remarks.Any stored logs could, however, be used to prosecute any type of crime.
The association's endorsement comes nearly two months after Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the head of the House Judiciary Committee, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) introduced legislation that would force Internet companies to log data about their customers. It says they must store for "at least 18 months the temporarily assigned network addresses the service assigns to each account, unless that address is transmitted by radio communication"--language that amounts to a huge and unusual exception for wireless carriers.

In January, the U.S. Department of Justice also called for some sort of legislation in this area, but the White House has not taken a public position and the department has pointedly declined to elaborate on what it wants. No Justice Department representative is scheduled to testify tomorrow. The International Association of Chiefs of Police applauded (PDF) data retention requirements five years ago but did not endorse specific legislation.

Brown declined a request from CNET to discuss his testimony.

The Republican backers of the bill--it was the GOP's first major tech initiative after taking over the House in January--hope Brown's endorsement will provide a welcome boost to their proposal's prospects.
Similar bills have been introduced starting in early 2006, but privacy and civil liberty concerns have kept them from even receiving a floor vote. So has the scope: industry representatives have been wary ever since Justice Department representatives were talking privately about whether social-networking sites should be required to keep track of what Internet address uploaded what photograph.