Congress wants to monitor all emails, IMs, etc.

The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics » Action: Congress wants to monitor all emails, IMs, etc.
A bill introduced last week by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) is beginning to raise eyebrows. [It] would require ISPs to record all users’ surfing activity, IM conversations and email traffic indefinitely. The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records.

Good for storage companies that sell storage, bad for democracy, liberty and freedom, and America in general. Are we going to have to file "1984: The Return"? So how would this bill be different than mandating that the post office open your mail, scan and archive it, then forward it on? Or how is this different than the phone company having to record and archive your voice calls? Or tracking where you drive, or what you purchase in a store, or monitor you discussions at your own dinner table at home? And he’s dubbing this the Safety Act? What’s safe about it. So we would jail people for not keeping records? So if records are lost, to avoid going to jail, make up some. Hmm….NIGHTWATCH.