This is ridiculous. Essentially, if this passes as it stands it means if you have a router in your home or business, even if it is password protected, you need to keep logs of network activity for two years. From the article:
The legal definition of electronic communication service is “any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.” The U.S. Justice Department’s position is that any service “that provides others with means of communicating electronically” qualifies.
That sweeps in not just public Wi-Fi access points, but password-protected ones too, and applies to individuals, small businesses, large corporations, libraries, schools, universities, and even government agencies. Voice over IP services may be covered too.
Seriously, I can be held culpable if my router doesn’t maintain two years of log data? I mean, I’m all for stopping child pornography, but it’s boneheaded provisions like this, proposed by people who don’t understand the technology they are regulating, that causes me to have absolutely no faith that our government can effectively deal with the issues of the modern age.
I’m not even going to get started on the potential privacy issues that this raises, as I’m sure the rest of the Interwebs are busy enough doing that for me.
