The toman diaries

The ISP journalist

søndag, oktober 12, 2003

Reporter Declan McCullagh of C|net news.com received a letter from the FBI on sep. 19, telling him to archive any material about "the homeless hacker", of which I know little about.
It interesting though, because only ISP's are under this obligation to a federal entity, like in most other countries including Norway, where I live.

Doesn't the FBI have any scrouples? It looks up this law, where it says specifically that:

"A provider of wire or electronic communication services or a remote computing service, upon the request of a governmental entity, shall take all necessary steps to preserve records and other evidence in its possession pending the issuance of a court order or other process."

-And then, in this letter on false grounds, they tell him not to talk about it. Not to anyone it said.

Does it smell Gestapo, ignorance, or what? - I think it's a nice combo, a little Gestapo when it suits the New Patriotism, and a little ignorance on top to make it look less lawbreaking if it's found out about. -- Or actually, I think it's amazing what Americans put up with from their rulers, as long as they say they're fighting crime or, gosh, cybercrime.
So it's more Gestapo than ignorance then.