THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S INTERNET DATA RETENTION POLICY, in which ISPs are being “encouraged” to keep information on what customers upload and download, is getting a lot of criticism, and rightly so.

On the other hand, the dynamic here is exactly what we see with the pressure on gun sellers to retain data on firearms purchasers on the chance that it might be useful to law enforcement someday. Gun-rights activists fear (rightly) that it may be used to support confiscation efforts someday, but are told, even by civil liberties enthusiasts, that such fears are paranoid. Now that the slippery slope has gotten slipperier, maybe people more people will note the similarity.