Friday, July 27, 2007

A Trio of Internet Regulation Tidbits

Senators Call For Universal Filtering
They've danced around the issue. They've tried to couch it in language that privacy advocates would not find objectionable. But on Wednesday Senators Inouye (D-HI) and Stevens (R-AK) both called for universal Internet filtering and monitoring in their respective committees. And to ensure that they would not be challenged, civil liberties groups were not invited to testify.

Maybe These Guys Could Help...
ISPs and Telcos use 'packet inspection' technologies to help prevent against DoS (Denial of Service) attacks and to comply with government ordered wiretaps. That's nothing new, but a new class of technologies that employ 'deep packet inspection' will soon give the ISPs the ability to shape, delay, block, or record traffic based on content. Want Google to fork over a briefcase full of cash? Stop every email packet destined for Gmail. Decide Senator Inouye is right? Dig through every packet for porn and shunt the data to the Feds.

...And My Taxes To Pay For The Data
Having to get a Federal Court order when you want to examine a broad swath of Internet traffic is a pain for the FBI and a money sink for the ISPs who have to intercept and store the data. But a new program will at least deal with the latter problem by paying the the ISPs and Telcos to gather, store, and categorize all the traffic that law enforcement so desperately wants. Your tax dollars at work.

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