Silly laws breed disrespect for laws – Wi-fi logs for 2 years?

I read yesterday that a bill in both the Senate and the House will compel ISP’s and wi-fi users to keep usage logs for two years. There is no distinction between public and private wi-fi’s. Which basically means that I’ll have to keep traffic logs of my home network for two years. I don’t even know if that’s technologically possible with my wireless router.

This proposal is ridiculous and unenforceable. First, the shear amount of data that would have to be parsed would probably make it harder to track child predators than it is now. Second, since it covers voice over IP (VOIP) communicate it amounts to wire tapping without a warrant. I’m sorry but when “nanny-state” legislators pass laws that are perceived as unreasonable to the average law-abiding citizens, average law-abiding citizens begin to lose respect for the rule-of-law and their governing bodies. This is one of those unreasonable proposals. I can tell you right now that I won’t comply with this silliness.

Here’s a letter that I sent to one of my Senators:

Senator Cornyn,

About S.436. Are you serious? I would expect this feel-good, unenforceable legislation from the Democrats. But come on, from so-called conservative Republicans? Did the Republicans become “Nanny state” politicians while I wasn’t paying attention.

This bill will do nothing that it’s designed to do. Due to the vast amount of data it will only make it more difficult to track down child predators. Additionally, it will put more burden, and therefore, more costs on small businesses and individuals like myself who simply have a wireless router in my home. As far as I can tell there’s absolutely no provision in my wireless router to capture logs for more than a few hours let alone two years. I don’t like it and I’m angry with you for supporting this unreasonable legislation. When the government starts making silly laws the people start losing respect for the government and their laws. This is one of those proposals. Since this could be interpreted to cover “voice over IP” telephone communications it also amounts to illegal wiretapping.

Instead of putting the burden on me for crime fighting please just punish the ones committing the crime. Please reverse your course and come down on the side of the rights of the individual to be free from obtrusive government intervention and unreasonable record keeping.

Regards,
Jim Rector

We’ll see how he responds. I’ll report back when he does.

Random Stuff

Just thought I’d share a few interesting links. Some may interest you, some may not. One thing for sure, they do interest me.

Canon 5d Mark II should be in US stores today
Man do I have serious camera envy with this one. According to Ron Galbraith Shipments of Canon’s newest full-frame digital SLR should commence today. Announced back in September this is a ground breaking camera. It has over 21 million pixels, it’s full-frame (Image sensor the same size as 35mm film.), and 1080p video capabilities. The video samples are unbelievable.  Canon USA.

Self-destruct your laptop
Lenovo has come up with a unique way to foil laptop thieves. They’ve added technology to their Montevina laptop line that will allow you to text message a destruct code to your stolen laptop. The code will shut down the laptop and from there disk encryption will take over to protect your data. The only catch is the stolen laptop needs to be in a WWAN (wireless wide area network.) to receive the kill signal.

SBC: The widening divide
Tom Ascol has written SBC and Calvinism: Three events that widened the divide on the Founders Blog about three events that is precipitating the widening divide between Calvinists and Arminians in the Souther Baptist Convention. I won’t restate his article so head on over there and read it for yourself. It’s intersting no matter which side of the issue you fall on.

Find me the verse
Dan Phillps over on the Pyromaniacs blog has a good post Sanctification challenge: find me the verse. He asks four very direct questions looking for Biblical answers to these questions. His point is to:

(A) to make the simple and pointed still more simple and more pointed, and thus (B) better to serve those who serve the Body as pastors:

Civically Illiterate
Before things will get better in this country politically we must educate the masses. How to do that (You’d have to somehow go around the education system.) I don’t know. A post Civically Illiterate by Joseph Lawler at the American Spectator is telling and scary.

How can you vote responsibly if you don’t know the meaning of “free enterprise”?

That is the question posed in “Our Fading Heritage,” the survey on civic literacy released by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. The report found that only 54% of college graduates can correctly identify a free enterprise system as one in which individual citizens create, exchange, and control goods and services.

Of course, this statistic reflects the civic understanding of college graduates. Those without a college degree fare even worse.

Most damning of all, perhaps, is that self-identified elected officials score lower on average than the general public. So not only are our politicians illiterate in matters of political history and economics, they are less knowledgeable than the already lamentably ill-informed average citizen. Fifty-four percent do not know that the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. They tested worse than everyone else in the subjects of First Amendment freedoms, international trade, abortion, and many more. “The blind leading the blind” has never seemed more appropriate.

Well, that’s all for now.