3 ms·

America has no data protection law, apart from some hyper-specific ones: healthcare, video rental records. That makes all of this data sharing completely legal.

by pjc50 11mo ago

America has no data protection law, apart from some hyper-specific ones: healthcare, video rental records. That makes all of this data sharing completely legal. As well as that, it is widely agreed there that lying is free speech. It is not wire fraud because you do not pay to apply. (In general; places that charge applicants are even more scammy.)

rsanek 11mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Pr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bl...
- pjc50 11mo ago
  Exactly - no national, general data protection law. Although the California one looks pretty similar to the GDPR from the summary, it's not truly national.
  - renegade-otter 11mo ago
    Even if there was, under the current regime, the probability of it being enforced is near-zero, especially if you are in the good graces of the child king.
    - _heimdall 11mo ago
      The problem of enforcement doesn't fall only on the executive branch. They're tasked with executing laws passed by congress. Congress is ultimately a check on the executive, and if they care to have their laws enforced they do have actions they could take.
      - pjc50 11mo ago
        The branches (including SCOTUS) are not meaningfully different when they are controlled by the same party.
        _heimdall 11mo ago
        That's a very pessimistic view. That boils our system of three branches of government to a purely partisan game of capture the flag in which we all lose if one team captures all three at one. SCOTUS is a bit different as it both isn't driven by political parties and justices have a history of more frequently breaking with the party they are seen as aligned with.
        ben_w 11mo ago
        2024 has not been a year for optimism about the American system of checks and balances functioning as advertised. Even more broadly, there's an old quote: There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge (or ammo). Please use in that order. The soap box is under threat: https://reason.com/2025/12/18/this-tennessee-man-spent-37-days-in-jail-for-sharing-an-anti-trump-meme-he-says-the-cops-should-pay-for-that/ https://reason.com/2025/12/18/this-tennessee-man-spent-37-da... and https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5349472/students-protest-trump-free-speech-arrests-deportation-gaza https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5349472/students-protes... The ballot box is under threat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_... Judiciary is under threat: https://www.gov.harvard.edu/2025/07/24/the-u-s-judicial-crisis-is-uniquely-dangerous/ https://www.gov.harvard.edu/2025/07/24/the-u-s-judicial-cris... and https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/judicial-independence-threats-foreign-and-domestic/ https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/judicial-independence-t... That just (to much the same horror and sense of unreality I had watching the 9/11 attacks unfold) leaves the ammo box. Now, I'm British by birth, a country where even the police are not routinely armed, so the American view that weapons are a "fundamental right" is utterly alien to me, and this difference is one of the reasons why I never seriously considered moving to Silicon Valley at any point in my career. Trump seems pro 2nd Amendment: is that because he is afraid and needs them to like him, or because isn't afraid as he has an army and a secret service to keep him safe, or does he just plain like guns and hasn't even thought about personal risk despite getting shot at?
  - red-iron-pine 11mo ago
    it is de facto national because California has the most people and is insanely wealthy; there is no F500 company handling broad consumer data that does not have a presence or customers there. there have already been CCPA enforcements against companies like Tractor Supply, Sephora, Honda, and Google (tho the GOOG was more of a "violated a lot of stuff including CCPA"). It doesn't have enough teeth to scare FAANGs, who have the money and technical ability to do whatever, but it can definitely keep companies in line. source: did CCPA compliance and security at multiple F500
TeMPOraL 11mo ago
"healthcare, video rental records" wait what? One of these things, etc. Curious how that came to be? Is it like special rules for (IIRC) onions in finance?
- Nextgrid 11mo ago
  Someone leaked some politician’s video rental history back in the day (there wasn’t even anything controversial): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

by pjc50 11mo ago

rsanek 11mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Pr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bliley_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm%E2%80%93Leach%E2%80%93Bl...

pjc50 11mo ago
Exactly - no national, general data protection law. Although the California one looks pretty similar to the GDPR from the summary, it's not truly national.
- renegade-otter 11mo ago
  Even if there was, under the current regime, the probability of it being enforced is near-zero, especially if you are in the good graces of the child king.
  - _heimdall 11mo ago
    The problem of enforcement doesn't fall only on the executive branch. They're tasked with executing laws passed by congress. Congress is ultimately a check on the executive, and if they care to have their laws enforced they do have actions they could take.
    - pjc50 11mo ago
      The branches (including SCOTUS) are not meaningfully different when they are controlled by the same party.
      - _heimdall 11mo ago
        That's a very pessimistic view. That boils our system of three branches of government to a purely partisan game of capture the flag in which we all lose if one team captures all three at one. SCOTUS is a bit different as it both isn't driven by political parties and justices have a history of more frequently breaking with the party they are seen as aligned with.
        ben_w 11mo ago
        2024 has not been a year for optimism about the American system of checks and balances functioning as advertised. Even more broadly, there's an old quote: There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge (or ammo). Please use in that order. The soap box is under threat: https://reason.com/2025/12/18/this-tennessee-man-spent-37-days-in-jail-for-sharing-an-anti-trump-meme-he-says-the-cops-should-pay-for-that/ https://reason.com/2025/12/18/this-tennessee-man-spent-37-da... and https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5349472/students-protest-trump-free-speech-arrests-deportation-gaza https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5349472/students-protes... The ballot box is under threat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_... Judiciary is under threat: https://www.gov.harvard.edu/2025/07/24/the-u-s-judicial-crisis-is-uniquely-dangerous/ https://www.gov.harvard.edu/2025/07/24/the-u-s-judicial-cris... and https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/judicial-independence-threats-foreign-and-domestic/ https://judicature.duke.edu/articles/judicial-independence-t... That just (to much the same horror and sense of unreality I had watching the 9/11 attacks unfold) leaves the ammo box. Now, I'm British by birth, a country where even the police are not routinely armed, so the American view that weapons are a "fundamental right" is utterly alien to me, and this difference is one of the reasons why I never seriously considered moving to Silicon Valley at any point in my career. Trump seems pro 2nd Amendment: is that because he is afraid and needs them to like him, or because isn't afraid as he has an army and a secret service to keep him safe, or does he just plain like guns and hasn't even thought about personal risk despite getting shot at?
- red-iron-pine 11mo ago
  it is de facto national because California has the most people and is insanely wealthy; there is no F500 company handling broad consumer data that does not have a presence or customers there. there have already been CCPA enforcements against companies like Tractor Supply, Sephora, Honda, and Google (tho the GOOG was more of a "violated a lot of stuff including CCPA"). It doesn't have enough teeth to scare FAANGs, who have the money and technical ability to do whatever, but it can definitely keep companies in line. source: did CCPA compliance and security at multiple F500

TeMPOraL 11mo ago

"healthcare, video rental records" wait what? One of these things, etc. Curious how that came to be? Is it like special rules for (IIRC) onions in finance?

Nextgrid 11mo ago
Someone leaked some politician’s video rental history back in the day (there wasn’t even anything controversial): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act