Privacy activists, frustrated by Congress rescinding a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) privacy rule, sought to buy lawmakers’ personal data through GoFundMe campaigns—and failed.
Congress repealed an FCC privacy regulation that tech experts and lawmakers described as duplicitous and onerous. FCC chief Ajit Pai argued that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), not the FCC, has the history and the expertise to regulate online privacy. Pai told Breitbart News:
I think that we need to have protections for consumer information regardless of the regulatory classification and what company holds that information. I think that the only entity that can handle this is the FTC because they have the expertise in this area and the authority we don’t necessarily have and they have the history of enforcement actions to bring with respect to privacy and data security. So, I think stripping the FTC of authority to regulate consumer privacy was the wrong way to go. The second point is that there’s asymmetric regulation here. The FCC adopted very onerous privacy regulations for internet service providers, where in reality it is not internet service providers who have a great insight into consumer activity.
Adam McElhaney, a “privacy activist” from Chattanooga, Tennessee, took his frustration to GoFundMe, seeking $10,000 in donations to “turn the tables” and “buy the histories of those who took away your right to privacy.”
McElhaney quickly surpassed his $10,000 goal, raising $210,000 from more than 13,000 backers. However, by the end of April, the privacy activist was unable to obtain a single lawmaker’s personal information.
Jules Polonetsky, the leader of the Future of Privacy Forum, told Recode, “In no conceivable way is it legal … to sell the individual browser history of a person.”
“To be clear, you can’t do this,” declared The Verge’s Russell Brandom on the topic of purchasing the browsing history of politicians who passed the FCC rollback. “Just because carriers are allowed to market against data doesn’t mean they’re allowed to sell individual web histories. The campaigns seem well-intentioned, but that’s just not how it works.”
Users started asking for refunds. Before the GoFundMe deadline, McElhaney said that he chose to return the money he raised for the campaign.
“I had hoped I would have something by now,” he stated in an update. “But I don’t. But with the GoFundMe 30-day mark approaching I don’t feel like I should pull down any donations. Even to recover some of my costs. I think it is only fair that everyone’s money be refunded.”
McElhaney told backers that he is “not giving up,” and that supporters who do not seek a refund will have their money donated to the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
Misha Collins, an actor who stars in the television show Supernatural, started his a GoFundMe page, urging visitors to “band together to buy THEIR privacy,” and set a $500 million goal to purchase Congress’s personal data.
Collins explained that the money raised will be used to buy Congress’s data, and if he cannot purchase the information, he will donate the proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union. He elaborated, “Proceeds from this campaign will be used to buy Congress’ data once it becomes available. If that is impossible for any reason or if there is a surplus from this campaign, 100% of the balance of proceeds will go to the ACLU to help them continue to fight for our privacy rights.”
As of Monday, Collins raised $85,000 through 4,300 donors, far short of his $500 million goal. Recently, Misha posted an update on GoFundMe. He said, “After researching this issue more in depth, I’ve learned that it’s not currently possible to isolate an individual person’s data and purchase it for publication at this time.”
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