The Hemmer-Beaumont Family Blog

First they wanted your Google searches and then they wanted records of your phone numbers. Now everything you do on the internet will be logged...for your protection of course. Almost everyone knows that the internet is not truly anonymous, logs are kept on every site you hit while surfing, cookies gather your demographics to be sold to advertisers your own browser history even keeps tabs on your whereabouts. However, by mandating that Internet Service Providers keep logs for a set amount of time so that the government may peruse them at their leisure, we have gone from sliding down a slippery slope to careening out of control. While this legislation sounds good (as they all do on paper), it will trample on the rights of the rest of us mostly law-abiding citizens.

This administration is 'protecting' our rights by slowly whittling them away. Will we realize what is happening before it is too late?


From ZDnet.com

A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans' online activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned.

The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a "reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration's views on privacy.

Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is proposing that ISPs be required to record information about Americans' online activities so that police can more easily "conduct criminal investigations." Executives at companies that fail to comply would be fined and imprisoned for up to one year.

In addition, Sensenbrenner's legislation--expected to be announced as early as this week--also would create a federal felony targeted at bloggers, search engines, e-mail service providers and many other Web sites. It's aimed at any site that might have "reason to believe" it facilitates access to child pornography--through hyperlinks or a discussion forum, for instance.

Speaking to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children last month, Gonzales warned of the dangers of pedophiles using the Internet anonymously and called for new laws from Congress. "At the most basic level, the Internet is used as a tool for sending and receiving large amounts of child pornography on a relatively anonymous basis," Gonzales said.

Until Gonzales' speech, the Bush administration had explicitly opposed laws requiring data retention, saying it had "serious reservations" (click here for PDF) about them. But after the European Parliament last December approved such a requirement for Internet, telephone and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, top administration officials began talking about it more favorably.

The drafting of the data-retention proposal comes as Republicans are trying to do more to please their conservative supporters before the November election. One bill announced last week targets MySpace.com and other social networking sites. At a meeting last weekend, social conservatives called on the Bush administration to step up action against pornography, according to a New York Times report.

Sensenbrenner's proposal is likely to be controversial. It would substantially alter U.S. laws dealing with privacy protection of Americans' Web surfing habits and is sure to alarm Internet businesses that could be at risk for linking to illicit Web sites.

A spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee said the aide who drafted the legislation was not immediately available for an interview on Monday.

U.S. Justice Department spokesman Drew Wade said the agency generally doesn't comment on legislation, though it may "issue a letter of opinion" at a later date.

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, called Sensenbrenner's measure an "open-ended obligation to collect information about all customers for all purposes. It opens the door to government fishing expeditions and unbounded data mining."

The National Security Agency has engaged in extensive data-mining about Americans' phone calling habits, USA Today reported last week, a revelation that could complicate Republicans' efforts to enact laws relating to mandatory data retention and data mining. Sen. John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, for instance, took a swipe at the program on Monday, and Democrats have been calling for a formal investigation.

Worries for Internet providers
One unusual aspect of Sensenbrenner's legislation--called the Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act--or Internet Safety Act--is that it's relatively vague.

Instead of describing exactly what information Internet providers would be required to retain about their users, the Internet Safety Act gives the attorney general broad discretion in drafting regulations. At minimum, the proposal says, user names, physical addresses, Internet Protocol addresses and subscribers' phone numbers must be retained.

That generous wording could permit Gonzales to order Internet providers to retain records of e-mail correspondents, Web pages visited, and even the contents of communications.

"In the absence of clear privacy safeguards, Congress would be wise to remove this provision," Rotenberg said.

Sonia Arrison, director of technology studies at the free-market Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco, said the Internet Safety Act "follows in a long line of bad laws that are written in the name of protecting children."

Complicating the outlook for the Internet Safety Act is the uncertain political terrain of Capitol Hill. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, announced legislation (click for PDF) last month--which could be appended to a telecommunications bill--that would require Internet providers to store records that would permit police to identify each user.

The head of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, has expressed support for DeGette's plan. That could lead to a renewal of a turf battle between the two committees, one of which has jurisdiction over Internet providers, while the other is responsible for federal criminal law.

"We're still evaluating things," said Terry Lane, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "We haven't really laid out exactly yet what kind of proposals we would support and what kind of proposals would be necessary."

Federal politicians also are being lobbied by state law enforcement agencies, which say strict data retention laws will help them investigate crimes that have taken place a while ago.

Sgt. Frank Kardasz, head of Arizona's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, surveyed his colleagues in other states earlier this year asking them what new law would help them do their jobs. "The most frequent response involved data retention by Internet service providers," or ISPs, Kardasz told News.com last month.

"Preservation" vs. "Retention"
At the moment, ISPs typically discard any log file that's no longer required for business reasons such as network monitoring, fraud prevention or billing disputes. Companies do, however, alter that general rule when contacted by police performing an investigation--a practice called data preservation.

A 1996 federal law called the Electronic Communication Transactional Records Act regulates data preservation. It requires Internet providers to retain any "record" in their possession for 90 days "upon the request of a governmental entity."

Because Internet addresses remain a relatively scarce commodity, ISPs tend to allocate them to customers from a pool based on whether a computer is in use at the time. (Two standard techniques used are the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet.)

In addition, ISPs are required by another federal law to report child pornography sightings to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is in turn charged with forwarding that report to the appropriate police agency.

When adopting its data retention rules, the European Parliament approved U.K.-backed requirements saying that communications providers in its 25 member countries--several of which had enacted their own data retention laws already--must retain customer data for a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years.

The Europe-wide requirement applies to a wide variety of "traffic" and "location" data, including the identities of the customers' correspondents; the date, time and duration of phone calls, voice over Internet Protocol calls, or e-mail messages; and the location of the device used for the communications. But the "content" of the communications is not supposed to be retained. The rules are expected to take effect in 2008.

According to a memo accompanying the proposed rules (click here for PDF), European politicians approved the rules because not all operators of Internet and communications services were storing information about citizens' activities to the extent necessary for law enforcement and national security.

In addition to mandating data retention for ISPs and liability for Web site operators, Sensenbrenner's Internet Safety Act also would:

• Make it a crime for financial institutions to "facilitate access" to child pornography, for instance by processing credit card payments.

• Increase penalties for registered sex offenders who commit another felony involving a child.

• Create an Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children inside the Justice Department.

Congress may make ISPs snoop on you | Tech News on ZDNet: "

Here's how I think things will shake out in the next three years. There is going to be a backlash towards the Republican Congress. They will work hard over the next few months to distance themselves from the Administration as well as their peers who have been tarnished in all the recent scandals. When the dust settles, the Dems will have taken back a few (but not enough) seats & the stage will be set for '08.

So, how do the Republicans maintain power? The solution can be summed up with two words: Replace Cheney. That's right, if the Republicans want a shot at the Presidency in 08, their best strategy would be to put Cheney out to pasture. Why do I say this? Wouldn't the liberals see this as a victory? Perhaps, but it would be hollow at best. What Bush would be doing would be replacing someone who stands no chance of election in '08 (and would not even run, apparently) with someone who could be groomed for one of the top spots in the ticket. He would take someone who has done the heavy lifting for six years and has become battle damaged with a fresh, new face of change. Who then, should be chosen? Another easy choice: Condoleeza Rice. She is the trifecta for the Republicans: Female, Young(ish), and Black. This represents three demographics that the Republicans would love to get. While I don't think that Condi could run for the Presidency in 2008, I do think that a strong case could be made for her to be on the ticket as Vice President. After all, at that point, she will have had two years of on-the-job training. Place her with someone who is a frontrunner, such as McCain, and you have a potent ticket ready to take control.

While it kills me to say this, I must admit that the Republicans are poised to make history. I don't agree with Condi's politics, but I do think that the party that gets a woman (who is not Hillary) in one of the two top spots would be hard to stop. Wouldn't it be a kick if it were the Republicans who moved women and minorities forward in this country?

They should throw the book at the Mayor-for-Life. What an embarrassment for D.C.

Marion Barry's Tax Sentencing Postponed

By Carol D. Leonnig and Yolanda Woodlee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 9, 2006; B01

An irritated federal judge called off yesterday's planned sentencing in the tax case against D.C. Council member Marion Barry, complaining that he had not promptly filed his tax returns, arranged to pay his outstanding tax debt or provided other required paperwork.

The former four-term mayor pleaded guilty in the fall to misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to file local and federal income tax returns for six years. He had hoped at his sentencing hearing yesterday to ask the judge to let him avoid prison time. But his effort to seek the court's leniency -- already threatened after he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana use in a court-required drug screening in November -- was put in further jeopardy yesterday when he tried the patience of the jurist who will decide his fate.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson expressed surprise and frustration upon hearing that Barry had waited until Tuesday to finally file the overdue tax returns. Even then, she said, he did not provide copies to the court. The judge also complained that Barry has not made arrangements to pay whatever he owes, though he was required to do so under the plea agreement he signed in October.


Marion Barry's Tax Sentencing Postponed

How corrupt is this Administration? There have always been political appointees - cronies rewarded for service to the Administration. However, the blatant partisan politics that these folks are playing with not only science, but the future health of our children (and their children), brings us to a new low. Here for your pleasure (if that's the right word) is the article from the Post.

The Politics of Science

Thursday, February 9, 2006; A22

IT IS A RARE thing for the biography of a 24-year-old NASA spokesman to attract the attention of the national media. But that is what happened this week when George C. Deutsch tendered his resignation. Mr. Deutsch had, it emerged, lied about his (nonexistent) undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University. Far more important, several New York Times articles over the past week or so have exposed Mr. Deutsch as one of several White House-appointed public affairs officers at the agency who tried to prevent senior NASA career scientists from speaking and writing freely, especially when their views on the realities of climate change differed from those of the White House.

Mr. Deutsch prevented reporters from interviewing James E. Hansen, the leading climate scientist at NASA, telling colleagues he was doing so because his job was to "make the president look good." Mr. Deutsch also instructed another NASA scientist to add the word "theory" after every written mention of the Big Bang, on the grounds that the accepted scientific explanation of the origins of the universe "is an opinion" and that NASA should not discount the possibility of "intelligent design by a creator."

The spectacle of a young political appointee with no college degree exerting crude political control over senior government scientists and civil servants with many decades of experience is deeply disturbing. More disturbing is the fact that Mr. Deutsch's attempts to manipulate science and scientists, although unusually blatant, were not unique. Just before Christmas, the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued "talking points" to local environmental agencies. These suggestions were intended to help their spokesmen play down an Associated Press story that -- using the EPA's own data -- showed that impoverished neighborhoods had higher levels of air pollution.

At the Food and Drug Administration, the director of the Office of Women's Health recently resigned because she believed that the administration was twisting science to stall approval of over-the-counter emergency contraception. Off the record -- because they fear losing their jobs -- some scientists at the Department of Health and Human Services say that Bush administration public affairs officers screen their appearances and utterances more carefully than anyone ever did. Scientists at places such as the Agriculture Department, not a part of the government known for its publicity hounds, have made the same claim.

In every administration there will be spokesmen and public affairs officers who try to spin the news to make the president look good. But this administration is trying to spin scientific data and muzzle scientists toward that end. NASA's Mr. Hansen was right when he told the Times that Mr. Deutsch was only a bit player. "The problem is much broader and much deeper and it goes across agencies," he said. We agree.

The Politics of Science

I can't believe that he actually speaks like this - This quote is directly from the White House site. All I can hear is Will Ferrell's voice...

"There's a lot of investigation, you're right, in Washington -- which is okay. That's part of holding people to account in a democracy. But at one point in time the government got accused of not connecting the dots. You might remember that debate -- we didn't connect the dots. And all of a sudden, we start connecting the dots through the Patriot Act and the NSA decision, and we're being criticized. Now, you know, I got the message early: Why don't you connect dots? And we're going to."

/sarcasm mode on

Wow! This is such a surprise.

/sarcasm mode off

Barry Tested Positive for Cocaine Use In the Fall

Robertson is an Idiot. While an active and vengeful God is very Old-Testament, to suggest that Sharon's illness is because he has tried to make peace with the Palestinians is ridiculous. Wouldn't you think that God would be in favor of peaceful coexistence of groups on the 'Promised' land? Shouldn't the land of God be an Eden - an example of heaven on Earth? Once again I would like to mention that above all else, we have been instructed to love one another - not kill each other over dirt.

CNN.com - Robertson suggests God smote Sharon - Jan 5, 2006

This article from the Post totally speaks to me. I am the computer guy to many people both in my family and among my friends. This used to really bother me - after all, I worked in the computer field all week, why should I be 'on call' 24x7 for everyone? In recent years, however, I have come to embrace this role rather than harbor resentment for having to work the holidays. Simply put, I was blessed with this ability. It would be insulting not to use it to help as many people as possible. Merry Christmas to all!


Stan King is going to Pittsburgh and then Los Angeles to visit family for the holidays; he has already gotten word that he needs to fix computers belonging to his cousins, his nieces and nephews in both places. District resident Laura Maschal needs to load Apple's iTunes on her dad's computer during her Christmas break. Robert Clemenzi, meanwhile, will be trying to fix his sister's broadband connection during his holiday jaunt down to Asheville, N.C.

For many folks like them, having a family reputation for tech savviness means that going home for the holidays has become the time for connecting printers and figuring out why mom's e-mail software stopped working a few weeks back. As computers have found a place in nearly everyone's home, the annual computer checkup has become almost as much of a tradition as dad putting together the new bicycle or sister-in-law getting dragged into the kitchen to make gravy or eggnog.

"It used to be that grandma wanted you to put in a new light bulb in some hard-to-reach place," said Maschal, who works for a local Web company, though in a non-techie capacity. "Now you have to come over to take spyware off her hard drive."

If there is a tech professional in the family, that is the person who gets the job of configuring that new wireless network connection or figuring out why a computer is acting "funny." Otherwise, it's the young guy, the one who is into computer games or uses an iPod or who packs cutting-edge gadgets like a Treo smart phone. After that, practically anyone who uses a computer at work might wind up appointed to the task.

"Once you're in a technical field, you're automatically the computer guy," said Manassas Park resident Manny Mangilit. Mangilit works for a local tech firm, sure, but he's no programmer -- he works in personnel and administration. "I'm certainly not a techno-geek by any stretch of the imagination," he said.

Even those designated fix-it guys and gals who visit their out-of-state family several times a year say the holidays tend to be the main time when they get hit up for help. That's because now, of course, is when people tend to have a lot of new gadgets.

Dennis Courtney has another theory as well: During the summers, family activities usually involve spending time outdoors -- computers are out of sight and out of mind.

Courtney, who is scheduled to be in Detroit fixing his sisters' computers right about now, runs a server data center for a bank in Ashburn as his day job. He is happy enough to do the family computer maintenance work, especially because his family tries to repay him for the effort in their own ways. One of his sisters does nails in a beauty parlor, so Courtney's wife and daughters get their nails done free as he tries to figure out how to remove the latest pieces of spyware or viruses on those hard drives.

Some family tech guys are so used to the routine that they pack travel kits for problems they anticipate. King said he always travels with about 20 CD-ROMs containing antivirus software and diagnostic tools. "It'd be foolish not to," he said; after all, he spends about one full day of every family-visit vacation devoted to fixing tech support problems.

King got stuck with the job of being his family's fix-it guy because he is an engineer who works on mainframe supercomputers, machines that cost upward of $50 million. The IBM X900 probably does not have a lot in common with the typical $500 Dell laptop, but his family members seem to think his day job should make removing pesky computer viruses and spyware a snap.

"I would love to run and hide, but it's very hard when you're a captive audience," he said. When he was at a funeral in Pittsburgh recently, a family member tried to get him to commit to giving computer aid over the holidays.

In families blessed with more than one alpha geek, fixing a computer is a matter of pride. When antivirus expert David Perry finds himself at home with his computer science PhD brother and his computer engineer brother-in-law, it can turn into a bit of a showdown. Correctly diagnosing the family computer's ailments becomes "the geek holiday sport" he said.

The tech-support issues do not just revolve around computers, either, as other appliances in the home get more complex. When Clemenzi is not fixing his sister's high-speed Internet connection, he might be working on his parents' TV setup. They have been flummoxed by their satellite system, and for a few months had to use the living room TV to change channels on the set in the bedroom. Clemenzi fixed that problem with a gadget he got at Radio Shack.

Sometimes, though, you just have to draw a line. When Timothy Shey, an executive at a local Web applications company, found out that his parents were deciding on a new computer a couple of years ago, he offered to give them free and unlimited tech support, on one condition-- they had to buy an Apple MacIntosh.

For Mac fans such as Shey, having to do maintenance on a rival Windows computer is a galling experience. Shey said he knows one guy who took his parents' Windows system when they were out of the house and replaced it with a Mac: Tech-support problem solved.

But the Sheys ignored their son's advice and bought a Windows-based computer. So a year later when the machine started acting up, he kept his word.

"I cut them off," he said with a laugh.
The Computer Geeks Who Saved Christmas