Amanar wrote:
If your internet browsing history is not private, would it be okay for your ISP to publish that information publicly without your permission? If your ISP, for whatever reason, decided to publish your browsing history in the local newspaper for all your neighbors to see, would that be okay (legally)? It's not like you had any expectation of privacy, right?
Technically, yes, this would be perfectly fine from a privacy standpoint.
However, it is absurd as a practical matter, and highlights the silliness of the concerns. No one actually gives a **** about your browsing history. Even advertisers don't; they just want you to pop up in algorithms for products you might like. Part of the reason for the privacy concerns is that people think they actually individually matter to anyone.
It's particularly dumb if you're claiming the government itself is going to do something nefarious. If it is, regulations aren't going to stop it. At that point you may as well go dig a bunker and live off the grid because you're just creating unsolvable problems to win arguments on the internet.
If, on the other hand, you're mature enough to understand that automatic cynical distrust of all things government is no more supportable than naïve trust of the government, then you can believe regulations might prevent improper use of purchased data. disregarding the silly idea that courts would permit an end run around the 4th Amendment that way, if you want to regulate law enforcement, regulate law enforcement. The proper way to stop law enforcement from buying evidence is a regulation stating (generally) "Law enforcement agencies must obtain warrants; they may not purchase evidence", not "ISPs cannot sell information (but **** lol if you have information and aren't an ISP)"
The idea that these regulations were a safeguard against government abuse is like trying to argue you can perform a tonsillectomy by entering the patient through the anus. It might conceivably be possible but You're Doing It Wrong.