So, it's one thing to talk about data privacy in terms of how it impacts the lives regular folks in "flyover country". Ask any politician and they'll acknowledge it's an important issue, even if they then do nothing about it. But consider this: how hard would it be for someone, just one lone hacker, to get their hands on the personal phone records and internet search data for prominent members of Congress? Perhaps the hacker isn't it for financial gain at all and their goal even more diabolical: leaking that VIP data on the web in the weeks leading up to an election or a vote on a key piece of data privacy legislation. That's pretty scary, right? I don't think our political representatives understand the full scope of how important data privacy is.
If it was really that easy it's hard to believe that there are not a very large number of people out there who would be motivated to, and actually, doing it.