Privacy campaigner starts fund-raiser to buy US politicians web-browsing histories

'You voted for it, you can lead by example,' argue US privacy activists.

A US privacy campaigner has started a fund-raiser with the aim of purchasing the web-browsing histories of the politicians who voted to abolish Federal Communications Commission (FCC) web privacy rules.

The privacy activist, Adam McElhaney, has already raised almost $150,000 via the GoFundMe page he established for the campaign. McElhaney has also asked contributors to vote for the people whose web histories his campaign should purchase first:

  1. Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission;
  2. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader;
  3. Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House; or,
  4. Marsha Blackburn, House Member representing Tennessee's 7th congressional district.

McElhaney claims that the legislators were lobbied by telecoms companies and ISPs to pass the law so that they could make money selling the data. He claims campaign contributions to these legislators effectively bought their compliance - and now he wants to turn the tables on them.

Starting with a modest goal of just $10,000, the campaign had already raised more than $70,000 last night - with McElhaney responding by raising the target to $1m, presumably to ensure that the campaigners aren't outbid by the Russia's FSB.

"Thanks to the Senate for passing S.J.Res 34, now your Internet history can be bought," writes McElhaney.

He continues: "I plan on purchasing the Internet histories of all legislators, congressmen, executives, and their families and make them easily searchable at Searchinternethistory.com.

"Everything from their medical, pornographic, to their financial and infidelity. Anything they have looked at, searched for, or visited on the Internet will now be available for everyone to comb through.

"Since we didn't get an opportunity to vote on whether our private and personal browsing history should be bought and sold, I wanted to show our legislators what a democracy is like. So, I'm giving you the opportunity to vote on whose history gets bought first," he writes.

However, despite the vote, US ISPs will remain tied up in a web of different privacy and security rules that may inhibit them from freely selling subscribers' web-browsing histories - let alone selling individuals' web-browsing histories to the highest bidder.