"The Justice Department is asking Internet companies to keep records on the Web-surfing activities of their customers to aid law enforcement, and may propose legislation to force them to do so," reports New York Times.America Online, Microsoft, Google, Verizon and Comcast representatives met with FBI's director, Robert S. Mueller III, and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. While the US Department of Justice didn't ask the companies to give them users' data, they want that Internet companies keep the data in a standard format and for at least two years. DoJ wants "information that could be subpoenaed through existing laws and procedures", that means data related to Web searches and e-mail exchanges.
Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, is concerned with the financial aspect: "The Department of Justice has yet to tell us what they want us to store. If they decide they want us to store everything, there isn't a storage facility in the U.S. large enough to store that." But the real problem is the ISPs: they should keep track of users' online activity and they will be much more cooperating than Google, for example.
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