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Comment by advisedwang | Hacker News Reader

Buying internet history requires a seller. Even with 47 CFR 64(U) removed, nothing compels selling of data. ISPs would be crazy to sell internet history of people in power to activists. They would even be crazy to make a clear marketplace.

Selling of info is going to be shady back deals invisible to consumers, not a store where you can buy the history of whatever subscriber you like.

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Go through minimal effort to set up a sham company, some new startup, so on and so forth. Are they really going to look into it when there's a big pile of money?

Money talks.

Yeah, and the funding is already up to $165K in 4 days...

That's exactly why the cable companies wont sell congressional data. Why would they shoot the goose that laid the golden egg?

Just buy up all the DC data and filter it. It won't be that hard.

Agreed. Assuming the ISP would let you buy all data on men in DC between 40 and 70 y/o, that have moved there within the past 6 months. You could then easily deanonymize it by sorting out which users have gone to which local newspaper website (ie Someone from dallas is likely to have gone to dallasnews.com or www.nbcdfw.com). Should be pretty easy to find a few congress members, or at least congressional staffers.

Because money talks. I used to play a game when I really wanted to bargain hard on something: I'd change my money to as many notes of the lowest possible denomination, and show up with a huge stack of notes.

You're be surprised what a huge stack of notes can do. It triggers something in the recipient of said huge stack of notes. It's deeply psychological. People stop thinking when faced with a huge wad of money.

People will do anything for money, including bad longterm decisions.

ISPs are not 5 year olds.

They are not going to intentionally fuck over the congresspeople that voted for this for chump change. It's incredibly stupid to think they would.

You're incredibly stupid.

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