Comedian John Oliver is trying to pressure members of Congress into passing consumer data protection legislation by threatening to expose their internet browsing and search histories.
The host of HBO’s Last Week Tonight announced Monday that he paid shady data brokers to collect the websites visited and terms searched by congressmen and those on Capitol Hill.
Oliver paid the brokers to use different targeted online ads, including a popular one that offered erotic fan fiction about Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to lure his suspects in and gather their data.
“So it seems when Congress’s own privacy is at risk, they somehow find a way to act,” Oliver said on his show. “And it also seems like they’re not entirely aware just how easy it is for anyone, and I do mean anyone, to get their personal information.”
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The comedian said he was trying to highlight the overreach of online data brokers, who can unfairly collect large amounts of data on any internet user and then sell that information.
”If you’re terrified about what I might do with it, you might want to channel that worry into making sure that I can’t do anything,“ Oliver threatened members of Congress.
Oliver and his team paid data brokers to phish for the data of members of Congress by creating a demographic profile of men aged 45 and up who live within a 5-mile radius of the U.S. Capitol and who had previously visited sites related to or searched for terms including divorce, massage, hair loss, and mid-life crisis.
Earlier this year, a group of Republican legislators urged President Joe Biden to work with Congress toward enacting federal consumer privacy and data security legislation in 2022.
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Congress is debating multiple bills to beef up data privacy, but the prospects for federal privacy legislation actually passing in Congress are grim despite bipartisan support. Individual states have moved to adopt their own data privacy laws instead.
