Stupid Wisdom

FBI head wants ISPs to keep records for 2 years

Depending on how the government goes about obtaining these records I see no real privacy issues. Provided they stick to using the courts to legally obtain the records privacy shouldn’t be a problem. The problem I see is putting quite a load on the ISPs. What if they don’t keep them long enough? Or they get lost? It sounds to me like we need an internet access tax to pay for all that storage. Since most internet usage is not metered I see no practical reason for the ISPs to need such a long retention. They do need them internally to monitor user activities for security and other reasons. But 2 years could present a huge database that may or may not be needed. All that data would need to stored and backed up. It would also need to be secured to prevent tampering and insure accuracy. This would probably present the need for new personnel for the larger ISPs possibly even entire departments for the largest ISPs. In term of time, people, & equipment the costs could be significant. Somebody would have to pay for it and I’m sure that would be the consumer.