[HCoop-Discuss] Federal legislation affecting HCoop operations

[Nathan Kennedy]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:01:27 -0500, Adam Chlipala <adamc at hcoop.net> wrote:
> My understanding is that we are already in compliance with this
> legislation.

Sorry for the second email, but here's links to the House and Senate
sponsors' press releases on this bill:

http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ForPress.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=8fb77917-802a-23ad-4876-a8c6d094f8e0
http://lamarsmith.house.gov/read.aspx?ID=1136

Here's an opinion piece by the House sponsor on the bill, complete with a
real-life horror story of a child rapist at large due to dastardly ISPs
purging DHCP logs:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-lamarsmith_20edi.State.Edition1.26b3a16.html

I think this bill is so dangerous because it is so likely to pass given its
bipartisan history and being introduced in identical, attractive House and
Senate bills, but also because of the precedent it sets.

The above links make it clear that the sponsor's main purpose is to force
ISPs to retain logs identifying DHCP users, but others have pointed out
that it may also directly affect internet cafes and even home wireless
access points.  I also supposed in my previous email that it could be
interpreted to require shell server access logs to be retained.

Even if this is not the case, and the current language doesn't directly
affect HCoop, it would for the first time that I am aware have the federal
government telling ISPs how they must administer their servers as an
ongoing matter.  If the bill does not apply to shell server logs, that WILL
be portrayed by law enforcement and legislators as a "loophole" that needs
to be patched.  2 years may be extended to 5 years.  Once we change the
regime to allow government to regulate server administration, the scope can
and will easily be increased from address assignments and access logs to
webserver logs, mail server logs, and so on, in order to close those
"loopholes."  ISPs and hosting companies may be required to block or
blackhole blacklists on a federal level (as some states do or have tried to
do now)--or even run certain mandated software solutions.

The ability for law enforcement to be able to determine everything that
anyone does on the internet is an extremely powerful tool that it would
love to have--one that would certainly expedite legitimate law enforcement
but which has game-changing implications for autonomy and privacy on the
internet.  It is way too attractive to assume that this bill would be
anything but a starting point.

I'm not a libertarian by any means but in this case when we're dealing with
federal regulation of system administration I think the potential parade of
horribles is all too real, and this provision could spell the beginning of
the end of the free and open Internet as we know it.  In the worst case
scenario compliance could become such a burden that small players like us
would find it difficult to compete in this brave new world of internet
regulations.

That said I don't think HCoop should take an official position unless we
have near-unanimity on the board and support from the membership.

-Nathan