Held Prisoner in Hampton Roads

Hello, George . . .

. . . Orwell, that is

Under the guise of protection, a House committee has approved the “Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011.”

Internet providers would be forced to keep logs of their customers' activities for one year--in case police want to review them in the future--under legislation that a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved today.

A last-minute rewrite of the bill expands the information that commercial Internet providers are required to store to include customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses, some committee members suggested. By a 7-16 vote, the panel rejected an amendment that would have clarified that only IP addresses must be stored.

Apparently, the title was chosen specifically to discourage opposition.  After all, who could vote against a bill with THAT title?

Of course, all data will be securely protected so that it cannot be used for untoward purposes.

Right!

What are we becoming?