""This GoFundMe [campaign] will pay to purchase the data of Donald Drumpf and every congressperson who voted for SJR34, and to make it publicly available."
This struck me as a crazy possibility, and apparently even the Drumpf administration isn't that crazy.
But several reports suggested the plans were technically illegal. The US Telecommunications Act prohibits the sharing of "individually identifiable" customer information except under specific circumstances. Marketers may access user browsing data, but only in aggregate, for the purposes of targeted advertising. And internet service providers (ISPs) would suffer huge brand damage if they sold off identifiable personal data.
Mike Masnick, founder of the Techdiret blog, said: "Here's the real problem: you can't buy congress's internet data. You can't buy my internet data. You can't buy your internet data. That's not how this works."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39443161
Excellent karma!
ReplyDeleteDaniel Carollo But it isn't though, because it's impossible.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Carollo But that's it. This isn't personally identifiable information. They may be able to obtain IP addresses, but they won't be able to find out actual identities. They may be able to see the sites those IP addresses access, but not the content. In short, this isn't utterly useless, but not nearly as damning as one might think.
ReplyDeleteI've heard it suggested (I don't have a primary source so it could be vapour) that Congress are going to repeal the provisions that get in the way of selling the data.
ReplyDeleteFor maximum conspiracy, I've also heard the suggestion that trying to buy politician's data will be treated as espionage; but that would be a nuttiness too far surely.