We recently noted that the DOJ and Attorney General Roberto Gonzales met with the chiefs of several major ISPs (including AOL, Comcast and Verizon) to try and convince them they should retain customer browsing activity for at least two years. Officials handed out pixelated images of child pornography, and informed attendees this was the type of thing such tracking would help eliminate. According to CNET, the two sides left that meeting without agreeing on much of anything, and without scheduling a follow up meeting.

"Another participant said it appeared as though the Justice Department wanted to require Internet providers to at least record their customers' Internet Protocol addresses, which are often temporarily assigned and the logs deleted after a few months during the routine course of business. It wasn't clear whether the requirement also would apply to Web sites such as search engines, which could be forced to record what keywords their users typed in for future investigations."

The article notes there are two proposals winding their way through Congress that could mandate such data collection.