They Are Data Mining

Last month Abu Gonzo needed this data to protect children, but since that didn’t seem to work, CNet is reporting that Terrorism invoked in ISP snooping proposal:

In a radical departure from earlier statements, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said that requiring Internet service providers to save records of their customers’ online activities is necessary in the fight against terrorism, CNET News.com has learned.

Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller privately met with representatives of AOL, Comcast, Google, Microsoft and Verizon last week and said that Internet providers–and perhaps search engines–must retain data for two years to aid in anti-terrorism prosecutions, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.

“We want this for terrorism,” Gonzales said, according to one person familiar with the discussion.

Gonzales’ earlier position had only emphasized how mandatory data retention would help thwart child exploitation.

As 26+ million veterans just learned these clowns don’t have a lot of respect for information they have on private individuals. As a matter of fact the BBC reports that the EU court annuls data deal with US because the court doesn’t think the US can be trusted to protect private information in accordance with European standards.

In the absence of any facts showing that terrorists are regular users of American ISPs, I must assume that the Department of Justice wants to use the information against those who do not agree with the Shrubbery.

Does anyone doubt that Rove at al. would love to mine Internet records for opposition research?