Why Is The Government Asking Companies To Both Retain And Destroy Data?

from the something's-not-working dept

Tue, Mar 3rd 2009 8:01pm — Mike Masnick

With Congress' latest attempt to force data retention on anyone who operates a network (including home users), some are realizing that other parts of the government have been equally adamant about getting these same folks to destroy the very same information for the sake of keeping people's data private. It does seem like we're on a crash course between privacy on the one hand, and the demands of law enforcement, the entertainment industry and a few others who want all data to be kept for as long as possible. A few years back, when stories of how the government was misusing data that it got access to were revealed, we had hoped that it would lead politicians to recognize the downsides of data retention. But, of course, that's not quite how Washington DC works.

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Filed Under: data retention, laws, politicians, privacy

9 Comments

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Dan, 3 Mar 2009 @ 10:00pm

And who will pick up the pieces when it all comes to a head?
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Chunky Vomit, 3 Mar 2009 @ 10:05pm

It is a mess
So I'm going to retain what I want to retain, and destroy what I want to destroy.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2009 @ 10:17pm

SNAFU or just an other case were the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Mar 2009 @ 11:08pm

Re: It is a mess
That sounds like a Dick Cheney move.
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zcat, 3 Mar 2009 @ 11:42pm

Easily solved
Just make a photocopy or two of every document before shredding it. Right?
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Chunky Vomit, 4 Mar 2009 @ 12:30am

Re: Re: It is a mess
Good thing I'm talking about data and not people eh?
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femtobeam, 4 Mar 2009 @ 1:26am

Destruction of data
It might be people with neural interface technology accessing the human brain. The data may also have been falsified. It could prove wrongdoing and theft of IP. What about identity theft? The only purpose of destroying data is to destroy information about who created it and why. In other words, all the people who were spied upon by communications subcontractors to the government agencies who were stealing trade secrets and IP, then falsifying information about their subjects. The anti-competitive practices would become known with a paper trail and so would the abuses. Just because there is a copy of the data doesn't mean it will be used unlawfully, that is if it can be safely stored, which is very difficult to achieve.
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Dan, 4 Mar 2009 @ 3:07pm

The solution is to take an out of focus low res picture of each page and shred the original. You have then satisfied both laws. Is anyone surprised by the contradiction? We are talking about the federal government here after all.
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HELLO!, 14 Apr 2009 @ 10:45pm

SCANDALS! SCANDALS! SCANDALS!

SOME OF THE WORST CASES OF RACIAL PREJUDICE IN WORLD HISTORY!

The American people are thrilled to have their first African-American president.

Speaking of Barack Obama—Barack Obama is a racial-minority individual and does not like racism:

And Michelle Obama is a racial-minority individual and does not like racism:

WORLDWIDE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO SCANDALS:

(I) I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed atrocious, racist, hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention. Many people know what Bush did. And many people will know what Bush did—even until the end of the world. Bush was absolute evil. Bush is now like a fugitive from justice. In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.

(II) It is opined that Bill Clinton committed terrifying, racist, hate crimes during his presidency, and I am not free to say anything further about it. ‘Be sure your sins will find you out’ (Numbers 32:23).

(III) What if basically all racial-minority people would subscribe to the interpretations that George Herbert Walker Bush committed monstrous, racist, hate crimes while he was the President of the United States? It will eventually come out: it is only a matter of time.

(IV) I know it may be hard to believe. However, Ronald Wilson Reagan committed horrible, racist, hate crimes during his presidency.

- The Dissemination Machine

(There are thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the contents of (I), (II), (III), and (IV). For example, one can go to Google right now, type “George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism,” hit “Enter,” and readily find 1,000 or more copies indicating content of (I). For example, one can go to Msn right now, type “It is opined that Bill Clinton committed racist hate crimes, and I am not free to say anything further about it,” hit “Enter,” and readily find more than 460 copies indicating content of (II). For example, one can go to Msn right now, type “George Herbert Walker Bush committed monstrous, racist, hate crimes,” hit “Enter,” and readily find more than 210 copies indicating content of (III). For example, one can go to Msn right now, type “Ronald Wilson Reagan committed horrible, racist, hate crimes during his presidency,” hit “Enter,” and readily find more than 180 copies indicating content of (IV). The contents of (I), (II), (III), and (IV) exist very extensively in all major search engines. And there are thousands of copies in very many countries around the world. For example, there are countless copies on the Internet in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, etc.)

“BAD NEWS FROM THE UNITED STATES: ON THE RACIST HATE CRIMES AND ETERNAL INFAMIES OF GEORGE W. BUSH, BILL CLINTON, GEORGE H.W. BUSH, AND RONALD REAGAN” BLOG

badnewsfromtheunitedstates.blogspot.com
________________
‘If only there could be a Ban against invention that bottled up memory like scent & it never faded & it never got stale.’ Off the top of my head, it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
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