HB 150 – Big Brother Comes to Utah (Update: Coming Back)
By Saintless. Filed in Utah, politics |
So, last year a bill passed into law that gave prosecutors power to get your contact information from your ISP and/or cell phone companies without a judge when they suspect a child sex crime. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, in the time since going into effect,” more than 200 such subpoenas have been issued, or slightly more than one a day.”
This year, the Utah Legislature is considering a bill (HB 150) that would extend that to include suspected felonies, as well as cyber-stalking and cyber-harassment (misdemeanors).
This bill has passed through committee, and will be voted on in the House. Rep. Brian King was the lone vote against HB 150 in committee. He asked Pete Ashdown to help him in pointing out the problems with this bill. Of course, number one was that it’s unconstitutional. The one I wouldn’t have thought of though was that it is anti-business:
It is anti-business. Burdensome regulation against Internet Service Providers, making them a wholesale detective arm of law-enforcement is punitive against small ISPs and favors large ISPs with more resources. There are no nationwide ISPs headquartered in Utah and this law will help drive the already struggling small Utah-based ISPs under. Yahoo has already published their price list for violating your personal privacy. Smaller ISPs are more likely to protect your privacy as long as the law stands with them, they don’t have the money to fight a court battle in your favor.
Pete Ashdown’s blog is definitely worth a read, and I’ll just add this as my rant:
What the hell is it with the GOP being so gung ho to violate basic rights all the time? There’s NO REASON that the Attorney General would need to avoid getting a warrant signed by a judge in order to get information like this. And last year’s bill is proof that it’s not needed. We tend to hear about it when there’s a child porn case in Utah. And I certainly haven’t heard of anywhere near 1 new case per day in the last 6 months, which tells me that it’s either being over used (and abused), or isn’t effective. And with no accountability, all I can think is: “Who will watch the watchmen?”
Contact your Representative and make sure they Vote No on HB 150. (Check your county clerk’s site if the state site doesn’t clearly show your Rep)
Update 2/25/2010: This Bill failed in the House today. Yay!
Update 2/26/2010: Rep. Daw is trying to bring this back from the dead.