[Infowarrior] - Qwest on data retention laws: Oops

[Richard Forno]

Qwest on data retention laws: Oops

By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/Qwest+on+data+retention+laws+Oops/2100-1028_3-6108926.ht
ml

Story last modified Wed Aug 23 16:18:56 PDT 2006

Broadband provider Qwest Communications International said Wednesday that it
made a mistake when one of its lawyers endorsed federal legislation
requiring Internet providers to keep records of customers' behavior.

Jennifer Mardosz, Qwest's corporate counsel and chief privacy officer, said
in an interview with CNET News.com that she misspoke during a panel
discussion organized by the Progress and Freedom Foundation in Aspen, Colo.,
the day before.

"I just completely misspoke there," Mardosz said. During the panel
discussion, she said Qwest "absolutely" supports House of Representatives
legislation sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette mandating data retention--a
requirement that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said will aid in
terrorism and child exploitation investigations.

"I associated (DeGette's) name with the female Colorado legislator that
introduced the state legislation," Mardosz said. "That was just a pure and
honest mistake that I made."

Mardosz said that instead of embracing data retention legislation, Qwest was
skeptical of mandates from Congress. "There is no need for it, because
companies are already doing the right thing," she said.

On Tuesday she said during the panel discussion: "We support legislation
related to data retention." One industry source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said Qwest
had backed the Colorado legislation earlier this year.

The original version of the Colorado bill (click for PDF) required Internet
providers to "maintain, for at least 180 days after assignment, a record of
the Internet Protocol address" assigned to each customer. Violations could
be punished by fines of up to $10,000 per incident. The language was
subsequently changed.

Qwest's revised position brings it in line with other telecommunications
companies, which say they are already required by law to cooperate with
criminal investigations and have been generally skeptical of broad, new
mandates. The Denver-based company has a market capitalization of $16.5
billion and says it has 784,000 wireless customers and 1.7 million DSL
(digital subscriber line) customers.

DeGette's proposed legislation (click for PDF) says any Internet service
that "enables users to access content" must permanently retain records that
would permit police to identify each user. The records could not be
discarded until at least one year after the user's account was closed.

Rep. Joe Barton, the influential Republican chairman of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, has endorsed the concept of data retention and is
expected to introduce a bill after the panel completes a series of hearings
on child exploitation.