BUSH ADMINISTRATION STILL UNDECIDED ON ISP SNOOPING

In late January, the subject of your Internet surfing habits resurfaced in a piece on ZDNet.com. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has already made it clear he wants national legislation to capture and maintain the personal aspects of your online activity. It’s the old “data retention” game, one the junk mail industry has been playing for years, and now an adopted procedure by any business that comes in contact with your private information. The Justice Department is thinking along the lines of what the European Union adopted, or a maximum of 12 months. However, the EU law has a number of Amendments that restrict the use of retained data to protect Internet users. EU privacy laws are also much more stringent in how individual personal data can be used in general. Whatever way you shake this out, I don’t trust Gonzales or the Bush administration with any of my sensitive data.