Law Enforcement Wants Mandatory ISP Log Retention

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Controversial legislation to require Internet providers to store logs about their customers for 18 months has run into an unexpected obstacle: a former supporter.
"This bill needs a lot of fixing up," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and previous chairman of the House Judiciary committee, said at a hearing today. "It's not ready for prime time."
The bill in question is H.R. 1981, which says Internet providers must store for "at least 18 months the temporarily assigned network addresses the service assigns to each account," unless it's a wireless provider like AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon.
Sensenbrenner's concerns are noteworthy because he has been a prominent sponsor of data retention legislation before. In 2006, CNET was the first to report that he had drafted legislation that would require Internet providers to store whatever records the attorney general deems reasonable--or face jail time. As recently as January, Sensenbrenner convened a hearing to resuscitate the idea.
As CNET first reported yesterday, the National Sheriffs' Association announced it "strongly supports" H.R. 1981. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children likes it too.
But during today's hearing before Sensenbrenner's crime subcommittee, even the sponsor of H.R. 1981, current Judiciary chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) acknowledged that there were problems with the legislation.
We want to "figure out a way so that we do not exempt wireless providers," Smith said. That exemption apparently came about after lobbying from wireless companies, and has already drawn sharp criticism from the Justice Department.
Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the Judiciary committee's senior Democrat, said his concern about the bill is that--although it's called the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011--the mandatory logs could be used to prosecute all sorts of crimes, not only ones dealing with child safety.
"The bill's title, Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act, is a misnomer because the legislation is really not about those types of crimes at all," Conyers said. "Because if it were, it would certainly not contain a broad exemption for the largest Internet service providers such as AT&T, and it would target child exploitation."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20078785-281/isp-data-retention-plan-hits-capitol-hill-snag/