New legislation introduced to Hawaii's House of Representatives this week proposed that Internet service providers should keep detailed records of their Hawaiian customers for two years.
The bill HB 2288 (.pdf) was introduced by Rep. John Mizuno and six others and presented on January 20. One worrisome aspect is that the data retention request would include web denizens' viewing histories:
Any internet service provider that provides internet 14 service to a consumer in the State shall retain consumer records for no less than two years. The required data for the consumer records shall include each subscriber's information and internet destination history information. Destination information shall include any of the following: (1) Internet protocol address; (2) Domain name; or (3) Host name.
The bill's purpose is obvious: to aid in the prosecution of pirates and other cyber criminals, such as kiddie porn peddlers.
According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, local law enforcement authorities stood behind HB 2288, though several critics spoke up about potential pitfalls, including hackers targeting a major ISP and walking away with scads of data on people who are no longer customers.
That criticism was enough; the Hawaii House shelved the bill on Thursday after it failed to garner much popular support. House Minority Floor leader Kymberly Pine, a proponent of HB 2288, admitted to CNET that HB 2288 was "a little broad" and in need of revision.
Following the massive Internet-led backlash over federal bills SOPA and PIPA, Pine and co. are kicking the hornet's nest. Several major websites this month went dark for 24 hours to protest the two anti-piracy proposals which critics feared would restrict free speech and irreparably harm the DNS system. Like HB 2288, SOPA and PIPA were tabled. (via Threat Post)
