Your ISP is Watching?

Your ISP as Net watchdog | CNET News.com

Okay, so let me get this straight. I’m sitting around on IM, having netsex with my husband and the federal government thinks they have some kind of right to force my ISP to hold copies of log files of this and let them look at them whenever they want? Why in the heck would I want the FBI or anyone else looking through my windows unless they’ve got a court order to do it?

Where’s the provision to have these records available to the government bodies, only by order of a court?

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution States: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

So.. where in this does the government have the right to read log files of my IM conversations? Sure, it’s not like I have anything to hide in the first place, but that’s not the point. The point is that what I do in my IM conversations is none of anyone’s business unless a court has reason to believe that I am doing something illegal via those conversations. That means, you gotta have a court order bucko.

This thought, that being able to peruse anyone’s IM conversations without a court order is perfectly okay, is something I heartily disagree with. It’s a very specific violation of our Fourth Amendment right to privacy.