Testifying to a Senate panel, Gonzales acknowledged the concerns of some company executives who say legislation might be overly intrusive and encroach on customers' privacy rights. But he said the growing threat of child pornography over the Internet was too great.

"This is a problem that requires federal legislation," Gonzales told the Senate Banking Committee. "We need information. Information helps us makes cases."

He called the government's lack of access to customer data the biggest obstacle to deterring child porn.

"We have to find a way for Internet service providers to retain information for a period of time so we can go back with a legal process to get them," he said.

Child porn is, I submit, a cover story because it will make Congress do what the Administration wants.

Next, instead of subpoenas or search warrants for ISP records, national security letters (NSLs) will be used to mine ISP data for any other crime that the government wants to investigate. Alleged terrorism will be the first, then everything else will be subject to seizure. Will a Republican Congress limit such efforts to these crimes alone? Doubtful, but the Administration has had no success thus far. Before an election, however, anything is possible. Republicans (and Democrats, but the Republicans seem to have first dibs) always want to roll out their "tough on crime" banner.