[tbrownaw]

The legal basis would be, of course, that private information is property, but that one doesn't exist in this country (yet?).

Trying to apply rules made for physical items (if I take it you don't have it any more) to things that act completely differently is a really bad idea.

[rhizome]

Humans are smart, they don't have to use the exact same laws. Like I implied, the laws don't actually exist in the US.

Would it make a difference if I had said "something akin" to personal information as property? I mean, we're reading this story, so personal information has currency in some way, right? Seems to me that with some political will that the laws can be nudged further in favor of the user.