Congress is considering legislation that would give police new powers to track Internet pornographers – and possibly millions of others.
The bill, HR1981, would require Internet service providers to keep records of all customers’ surfing activity for a year and make them available to police when subpoenaed.
Despite its apparently laudable purpose, the bill is “a reckless invasion of privacy that should be stopped in its tracks,” San Francisco Chronicle columnist James Temple said.
“It would effectively require private companies to gather information on millions of people, just in case one of them broke the law at some point,” Temple said.
The bill has been named “The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011.” A more honest title, the New York Post asserted, would be “Forcing Your Internet Provider to Spy On You Just In Case You’re a Criminal Act of 2011.”