Those GoFundMe campaigns can't simply buy Congress's internet history
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And of course, very often these days, crowdfunding campaigns, too.
You might've recently come across a link or eight for two different GoFundMe campaigns bouncing around the social web. Their aim? To crowdfund the purchase of members of Congress' internet histories. Both campaigns were inspired by Republicans in the Senate and the House, who recently voted in favor of taking away privacy protections on your internet data, which were set up by former President Barack Obama.
Obama's privacy measures never sprang to life, though, because of the aforementioned vote by both houses of Congress. Now internet service providers can pimp out your data for the foreseeable future (assuming President Donald Trump signs the legislation, which he's basically expected to do).
SEE ALSO:Congress doesn't like Trump's deleted tweets (and it's not because of the typos)The two GoFundMe campaigns are a sort of populist revenge pipe dream. You think you can buy our data? OK, we'll buy yours!And then, we'll make it searchable, so everyone will see all the weird shit you like! And so on.
The first one was launched by Adam McElhaney, who says he's a privacy activist and engineer. As of this writing, his campaign's raised more than $160,000 out of an initial $10,000 goal, though the campaign's corresponding website says the fundraising goal is actually$1 million.
The website says he wants to buy the internet histories of "all legislators, congressmen, executives, and their families," and doesn't specify where the money will go if he doesn't get to his goal, or finds the goal unattainable in some other way. We've reached out via multiple mediums to ask him a few questions, but he's yet to respond as of this writing.
The other campaign was started by Misha Collins, the actor of Supernaturalfame who lives in Los Angeles, California. His campaign's raised around $70,000 as of this writing, out of a stated goal of $500 million. Collins's goal is to buy the internet histories of those who voted to rescind data privacy measures, and says money will go to the ACLU if he doesn't reach his goal.
But some cold water's been thrown on those campaigns by a guy who wants to do something similar. Max Temkin, a co-founder of Cards Against Humanity, recently tweeted about his plan to buy Congress's internet data and publish it "if this shit passes."
Tweet may have been deleted
Temkin called McElhaney's plan a "scam" because McElhaney "cannot possibly" make the campaign's promise come true. And while Temkin only tweeted this and therefore did not elaborate much, that sentiment has been echoed elsewhere.
Techdirton Wednesday wrote that a potentially fatal flaw in the multiple GoFundMe plans to buy the internet histories of members of Congress is that nowhere is there some kind of store that sells data on, say, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell in neat little packages labeled with their faces.
Internet service providers suck up personal data so they can sell it off to whichever advertiser's willing to pay the most to get their ads on your screen, but those service providers aren't selling "Colin Daileda" (it me). They're selling "a male probably in his 20s though he has gray hair so maybe 30s, likes Washington sports teams except he also likes the Dallas Cowboys for some reason, and has a habit of buying more books than can possibly fit in a New York City apartment." And again, that data isn't stored in a vial. It's just sold to advertisers every time you visit a webpage with ads.
That doesn't mean it's impossible to figure out the internet history of Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell, it's just a far more complex process than writing a check to an ISP. Or anything some cheeky GoFundMe campaign is so easily and readily capable of shoving back in Big Internet's face.
Featured Video For You
The 'Deep Web' installation is a ballet of high-precision lasers
(责任编辑：产品中心)
工商银行青岛分行集中开展存款保险宣传活动
明年5G手机将大规模上市
这项指数被称外贸出口“天气预报”，82家青企入选样本
Naver, Kakao strive to combat deepfake porn spreading online-
近日，我市气温持续居高不下。气象学上，气温在35℃及以上时可称为“高温天气”。如果连续三天最高气温都超过35℃时，即可称作“高温热浪”天气。高温天气下，运动员、户外工作者、老年人、婴幼儿等都是容易中暑
...[详细]
-
本报讯为强化培训领域系统治理效果，促进职业技能培训健康发展，7月22日，天全县2021年度首期全程监控培训班正式开班。本次培训为期10天，参训学员60人，将就家居礼仪、家居保洁、家用电器使用、病人日常
...[详细]
-
为推动党史学习教育走深走实，扎实践行“学党史、悟思想、办实事、开新局”要求，让党史学习教育入脑入心，今年以来，工行雅安分行坚持把“我为群众办实事”实践活动作为党史学习教育重要内容，怀揣“金融为民”初心
...[详细]
-
本报讯为强化培训领域系统治理效果，促进职业技能培训健康发展，7月22日，天全县2021年度首期全程监控培训班正式开班。本次培训为期10天，参训学员60人，将就家居礼仪、家居保洁、家用电器使用、病人日常
...[详细]
-
Best smartphone deal: Google Pixel 8a on sale for $449 at Amazon
SAVE $50:As of August 27, get the Google Pixel 8a for $449, down from $499, at Amazon. That's 10% of
...[详细]
-
简单的欢迎仪式上，参与救灾的队员们收到鲜花本报讯8月5日19时，在成雅高速金鸡关收费站下站口，驰援河南抗洪救灾的雅安蓝天救援队队员平安返雅，雅安的队友们为他们每人送上一束鲜花。当天傍晚，天空下着小雨，
...[详细]
-
贺州市八步区“百年菜乡”全产业链摄影作品展_南方+_南方plus丰收的喜悦 何发清 摄八步区淮山产业基地 陈远亮 摄9月24日，贺州市八步区文学艺术界联合会组织部分摄影名家到贺街镇双瑞村蔬菜基地和
...[详细]
-
为庆祝新中国成立70周年，重温光辉历史，弘扬优良传统，同时，深入贯彻落实党中央、国务院关于开展全民阅读的指示精神，进一步提升市民素质和社会文明程度，激发广大群众读书热情，在“六一&rdqu
...[详细]
-
Ocean Energy has deployed its 826-tonne wave energy converter buoy OE-35 at the US Navy's Wave Energ
...[详细]
-
连绵成片的茶园 徐世楠 摄市委四届十次全会提出一系列重大思路、重大任务和重大举措，全会召开后，名山区深刻领会市委四届十次全会的重大意义，把创新引领高质量发展作为一项事关战略全局的重大任务来抓，切实增
...[详细]
