On Sun, 4 Jun 2006, George Rogato wrote:
1) Does the government have a right to know the actions of Americans on the internet?
This is not really at issue. At least it is not really of any concern for us here.
2) Is this a responsibility of the ISP to bear the burden of gathering this information or should the burden be carried by the feds themselves with little or no cost to the ISP?
THIS is the real issue that ISPs face. The problem that we all have with this is multifaceted. First, (and perhaps most importantly) is the cost that many ISPs will face to comply with the requirements. In many cases, this cost will be both direct (for hardware) and indirect (network reconfiguration). Also, many ISPs are set up in such a way that compliance will be nearly impossible. Let me provide just a couple examples.
First, many ISPs use private IP space internally for their customers. For these ISPs, any monitoring done by an outside entity (i.e. AT&T) will be completely useless.
Another example, would be the many ISPs that have several diverse networks. I have several customers that have 3 or 4 distinct networks (one has 8). These ISPs would be required to store this data in either one location, or purchase the equipment for each network.
It is my belief that WISPA should create a stance against any requirement for WISPs to store customer traffic patterns for any period. The very idea is hideously un-American in the first place. Be that as it may, it is technically difficult, and financially unfair for many smaller ISPs to have to store this information at all.
This thread started out as we should not be allowing the government to know our every move. This is a political discussion that can not and should not be decided by an ISP, but rather the entire country. We don't have any jurisdiction on issues such as this.
George, this is one area where we disagree. This is NOT a "political discussion". This is an issue that directly impacts every ISP (wireless or wired). It is, perhaps, true that the political implications are what Mark was driving at, but the issue at hand is NOT political in nature. It IS financial and technical.
We do however have a right to contest who is responsible for the burden of gathering this information.
OK. If that is the case, wouldn't you agree that this is something that SHOULD be addressed by WISPA? I don't agree with much that Mark had to say (really, it was the "implications" he made that I disagreed with), but his point that there should be SOME action on the part of WISPA is one that I do agree with.
-- Butch Evans Network Engineering and Security Consulting http://www.butchevans.com/ Mikrotik Certified Consultant (http://www.mikrotik.com/consultants.html) -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
