Internet Privacy Rights victory

Today is one of those rare days when I get to sit in my underwear and actually feel PRIDE in my home state of New Jersey. The NJ Supreme Court ruled that internet surfers can expect a reasonable degree of privacy on the internet, and that in order to get users' information, law enforcement agents need a grand jury warrant.

Hooray!

GooTube should get the squeeze.

In My Opinion, GooTube (Google/YouTube) should be drug out to the street and shot for this.

Why are corporations not figuring out that the way to tackle piracy and other issues is NOT to attack the very people that keep them going? We need new business models, not old-school prosecution and throwing people to the dogs.

OUR IDENTITIES MUST BE PROTECTED ON THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!

Save the Internets, continued

Here's an e-mail I sent out recently that was copter-worthy:

I've e-mailed some of you before about the internet and certain
governmental threats against it... There's yet more on the floor to fight
against in terms of personal liberties, particularly in the realm of
privacy law. The internet, as always, is fertile ground for debate in
terms of how much the government should be in control of it, monitoring
it, etc.

Currently there is a bill introduced that would, as I understand it,
require Internet Service Providers to retain records of its customers'
usage of the internet... where they go, how often, etc. However, due to
the loose wordage of the documents, it could theoretically allow for the
abuse of requiring the logging of internet chat/instant message content,
retention of IP address information (who you are and where you went), even
the retention of the content of your e-mail addresses.

I don't care if you're a saint and all you do is use the internet to cure
people's blindness... our rights to privacy and the government not keeping
intricate tabs on our every movement are invaluable, and it is our job as
citizens to fight for our liberties against anyone who chooses to infringe
upon them. This bill may seem harmless, and maybe it is (meant simply to
find child pornographers and pedophiles, murderers, and the like), but the
fact of the matter is that the few who act out inappropriately should
never be used as excuses to monitor and control the rest of us. This is a
constant battle that will never be over, and the internet is by no means
the only battleground. This bill is really only the tip of the iceberg,
anyway! But we always need to know what's going on at Capital (sic) Hill.

If you think I'm ranting and this is unimportant or over the top, you can
simply disregard this. It's really a lot easier to hit the "delete"
button.

Here is an article from BoingBoing.net that includes links to articles and
the bill itself:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/07/onerous_data_retenti.html

And remember; Just because we have a Democrat-majority doesn't mean we can
sit back and relax. It is a Democrat who is the largest proponent of the
bill.

Forward this on to anyone you think might be interested.

Sam


COPTER UPDATE - an e-mail from Jordan:

http://nymag.com/news/features/27341/ is a New York Magazine article that is seperate but related.