New US bill would force ISPs to retain user data for two years

A pair of Republican legislators have introduced legislation that would require ISPs to retain user data for two years as a means of helping law enforcement fight child porn; is this latest effort narrow enough to finally pass?For years, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has been pressing for legislation that would require Internet Service Providers to retain user data in order to aid law enforcement in hunting down child porn peddlers and downloaders. Last week, he introduced his most recent effort, and today was joined at a press conference in Austin by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who sponsored the Senate’s companion bill, to make the case for the 2009 edition of the Internet Safety Act.Smith is hardly the only member of Congress enthusiastic about Internet regulation aimed at protecting children: a 2008 analysis produced jointly by the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Progress and Freedom Foundation counted 30 such bills introduced in a single year. But he is one of the more persistent.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/new-bill-would-force-isps-to-retain-user-data-for-2-years.ars