

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales last week reiterated his desire for increased ISP data retention to help combat crime. In a speech to the National Association of Attorneys General summer meeting in Atlanta, Gonzales gave his audience a graphic, stomach-turning look into the world of online pedophilia. He described a visit he made to to the Justice Department's child exploitation and obscenity section and some of the images and online videos he'd seen. "It changed me," Gonzales said. "It was an orientation I will never forget."

Then he argued that not enough is being done to combat child exploitation and that law enforcement tools need to be bolstered, particularly by increasing data retention.

"We have heard time and time again from state and local investigators and prosecutors that investigations of these crimes would be greatly aided by increased data retention by Internet Service Providers. That’s why I asked a working group within the Department to look at this issue, and we're working hard on ways to remedy this problem. I appreciate your support on the issue of data retention; I hope we can continue to make significant strides in investigative practices in the future."

The full text of Gonzales speech is here (Warning: the pedophilia section is disturbing).