Gonzales

The U.S. Justice Department has asked internet companies such as Google, AOL, Microsoft, Verizon and Comcast to keep records on the surfing activities of their web customers, and it may propose legislation to force them to do so, writes the NY Times. That information - records identifying who visited which websites and possibly conducted searches using certain terms - would then be available to be subpoenaed.

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales asked company execs on Friday that they also retain records about those with whom users exchange emails, though not the contents of those emails. The government wants all such records to be retained for as long as two years.

The request comes as the government has been trying to extend its power to review electronic communications, ostensibly to combat terrorism and child pornography.