Hawaii May Keep Track of All Websites Visited

Here’s a bill gone seriously wrong. 

HB 2288, billed as a computer crime measure, would force Internet service providers to track and record every website visited by a subscriber — along with subscribers’ personal information. And that information would have to be stored for at least 2 years.

CNET reports that the bill was introduced by Rep. John Mizuno and inspired by the strange cyber attacks against Rep. Kymberly Pine.

But the bill is written so broadly it poses a host of Fourth Amendment problems. CNET reports:

Mizuno’s proposal currently specifies no privacy protections, such as placing restrictions on what Internet providers can do with this information (like selling user profiles to advertisers) or requiring that police obtain a court order before perusing the virtual dossiers of Hawaiian citizens. Also absent are security requirements such as mandating the use of encryption.

Because the wording is so broad and applies to any company that “provides access to the Internet,” Mizuno’s legislation could sweep in far more than AT&T, Verizon, and Hawaii’s local Internet providers. It could also impose sweeping new requirements on coffee shops, bookstores, and hotels frequented by the over 6 million tourists who visit the islands each year.

The bill was heard this morning at the Capitol — and deferred. Read the full story.