Even I Can See This New Threat to Internet Use, It Beats SOPA and PIPA.

The only good thing about it is that if H.B. 2288 (the companion bill in the Hawaii Senate is S.B. 2530) is written into law, it will be limited to residents of Hawaii. But I'm enough of a worry wart to see that there is nothing keeping it from becoming law in other states and perhaps federally.

What am I worried about?

OK, here's the bad news:

Hawaii's legislature is weighing an unprecedented proposal to curb the privacy of Aloha State residents: requiring Internet providers to keep track of every Web site their customers visit. . . .
The measure. . . says "Internet destination history information" and "subscriber's information" such as name and address must be saved for two years. . . . the dossiers must include a list of Internet Protocol addresses and domain names visited.

Why would they do something like that? The sponsor of the House bill said

"We must do everything we can to protect the people of Hawaii from these attacks and give prosecutors the tools to ensure justice is served for victims."

She introduced the bill shortly after her e-mail account was hacked and she had an argument with a web site designer.

Not surprisingly, people are concerned, especially because of the lack of protection written into the Senate companion bill.

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.

As I said, even I'm scared by this one and I know nothing about the Internet or Internet privacy.

You may want to find out if your local government is looking at anything like this.

Hawaii May keep Track of All Web Sites Visited - CNET