American comedian collects data from politicians: ‘Stop me then’

Oliver often uses his weekly talk show Last Week Tonight to draw attention to key topics through key stunts such as settling medical debts. This time Exposed He compiles and resale large amounts of information about data traders and Internet users.

These traders have been under investigation by both the European Union and the United States for years. In Europe, they must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires companies to be transparent about the way they process data.

Also, under the GDPR, they must provide a valid reason for being allowed to do so. One such reason is the consent of the person they are collecting data from.

‘Business data is not really anonymous’

He pointed out during the broadcast that it is very easy to name these types of collections: they only need to find exactly 15 facts about someone. In addition, data can easily end up in the wrong hands because this type of accumulated information is often passed from trader to trader.

Some merchants arrange dates on specific topics, such as pregnant women or those with cancer. This information is easy to purchase in the United States.

Oliver ended his story with a story about the Video Privacy Protection Act. This U.S. law makes it illegal to provide information only about which movies or games a person rents to third parties. The law was passed after information about a candidate was leaked to the United States Supreme Court.

“It seems that our representatives will not act until their own privacy is attacked,” Oliver said. “And I think they don’t know how easy it is for someone to get their personal information.”

Erotic ads about senators

He revealed that his team had requested information about “men over the age of 45 in and around the Capitol, who visited sites or searched for topics such as divorces, massages, hair loss and the middle life crisis”. Oliver arranged for the men in the group to view three commercials, including adult stories about Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

The ads received significant clicks, including at least three men who were inside the Capitol at the time. Oliver would then put all the information he had collected in a brown envelope, which he showed in the episode.

He called on American politicians to bring in legislation that would “make sure I have nothing to do with their data”.