On the heels of an MSNBC poll about privacy, CNET has reported that the FBI wants Internet providers to “track” users’ Internet behavior. It’s important to note that the request is for the companies to retain data they already collect, not to increase surveillance of customers.

The story is patently misleading, then, when it makes references to forcing corporations to “record information.” In this case the corporations already record it; the controversy is whether they should save it once it’s no longer useful to them. That way, the pertinent information will still be around by the time the FBI can subpeona it.

It’s always amused me how uptight people get about database police work. For example, look at the controversy over looking through library histories under the Patriot Act — which requires a warrant. Some librarians even refused to cooperate. But no one seems to have a problem with police breaking into a suspect’s home for a search with that same warrant. The message seems to be that rifling through an underwear drawer is less invasive than checking to see if someone’s taken out books on bomb-making.

Also, I think this harkens back to comments I made yesterday about the MSNBC poll — there is no serious worry that the government or ISPs will be sifting through these records for the heck of it. But at the same time it makes people uncomfortable to have the records kept, and/or the government involved, at all.

To me, the biggest problem here is that the FBI is interfering with the business practices of innocent ISPs. They are asking the companies to keep useless information because, at some point, the police might need it for an investigation. The ISPs, in other words, are being hurt more than the consumers. Innocent consumers, anyway.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.