I think many agree that this is a fundamental part of the problem but the article is about the NSA who has been known to gather a massive amount of information on the public through entirely their own means. But no doubt destroying surveillance capitalism will be a big win for the privacy, security, and safety of the public. From the government, foreign adversaries, and other members of the public alike. But the war will not be won despite victory in a major battle.

> We don't need a law that prevents the government from buying records about your internet traffic.

You're right. We shouldn't need a law and this will likely come down to a court case that would make explicit the spirit part. As government entities are not allowed to obtain evidence via means that an average citizen would. Which is the entire point. If the gov would need a warrant to collect that data themselves, they need a warrant to elicit that evidence (distinctly different from evidence freely and voluntarily being given to them). Meaning they need a warrant to buy the evidence.

> We need a law that prevents companies from selling it to anyone.

We need laws to prevent the collection in the first place.

Agreed, when possible. But the vast majority of this information is just generated from the activities inherent to doing business and it's always possible to prevent it from being collected at all.

I think it's generally okay and expected that businesses have information related to my interactions with them. But I think people don't expect or like the idea of that information being shared with third parties who didn't need to be involved.