timgarrett.net

Two of my great interests are politics and technology.  Most politicians are brain-dead about technology, and most of my techie friends don’t give a crap about  politics.  This particular article might turn things on its head a little.  It will both provide further proof that politicians are brain-dead and likely incite my techie friends to anger.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/20/internet.records.bill/index.html

These two lovely bills, already in the House and Senate, mean that any usage of DHCP has to be logged for two years.  This means any time I use a Wi-fi access point at a hotel, coffee shop, or the airport I would have to give them my personal information to be held for 2 years?!  If someone comes over to my house and uses my Wi-fi with their laptop, I have to keep a record of which IP address they were assigned for 2 years?!  My office network has to keep track of which employee had which dynamic IP when and retain that information for 2 years?!

You can kiss free and low-cost Wi-fi goodbye.  No one will want the legal risk anymore.  And, you won’t be able to come over to my house and use my Wi-fi without signing a ledger and providing a thumbprint.

Just like the debate over guns, the stated purpose of protecting children from exploitation is not the only result that can come from it.  Just the sheer effort and cost involved with something like this is another backdoor way of expanding the immense government bureaucracy.  If it is expensive and a pain to do, no one will do it without enforcement.  Need for enforcement means a new government bureau with lots of idiots in suits running around holding press conferences and meeting with Congress in hearings to whine about their funding and rationalize their lack of results.

If the logging requirements were ever expanded to provide real-time government access to this type of data (probably only possible with the biggest ISPs and Wi-fi providers), it could be used to track people’s movements.  We all know when you go down that road, the capability will be used for any political advantage conceivable.

What happens if these bills go through? We fail to save the children from harm while continuing to bloat the government.  Then, the government controls you and everything you do.

How do you stop this? 8 years ago, I would have said vote Republican.  Now, I’m only a Republican because I can’t find anyone I hate less to join up with.  The Constitution Party is a bunch of philosophers with apparently no plan to ever gain office at the national level.  The Libertarian Party talks about freedom only because they want to secure new freedoms for potheads and degenerates.

Arggggggh.