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Comment by xnx | Hacker News Reader

Exactly. I'd go as far to say that attention on government and Google/Microsoft/Apple/Amazon is a (deliberate?) distraction from the shitty apps, internet service providers, and mobile phone companies selling all the data they can collect. If John Q Public knew that their visit history to adult websites was for sale, they would drop the service and demand legislation immediately.

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And that's semi-how we got the Video Privacy Act [1].

Some journalist was like, "what happens if I go to [VHS Rental Store] and ask for the list of videos a supreme court nominee rented". And the store gave him the list and he subsequently published it and then congress panicked as they knew their rental history could be next.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

So we need to purchase this sensitive data for congress members and publish it. Seems straightforward.

John Oliver did it[1] and "blackmailed" congress to act. Still crickets.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqn3gR1WTcA

John has plenty of other wins.

A part of me still routinely wants Jon Stewart to move to Tennessee and run for the Turtle’s Congressional seat, on a platform of veteran and emergency worker welfare if nothing else.

is carpet bagging still a negative? the last time i even heard it discussed was when Hillary "moved" to New York.

We should be doing this kind of shit every week. Congress critters are supposed to represent us but most represent a cartoon version of their constituency or eventually just themselves.

Congresspeople represent their corporate masters.

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