Donations are pouring in to buy the internet browsing data of members of Congress who this week sent President Donald Trump legislation scrapping restrictions on internet providers sharing user records without consent.

Industry representatives tell U.S. News they won't be selling the browsing histories of individual lawmakers, but uncertainty about success hasn't stopped a steady flow of small-dollar contributions toward that goal.

A fundraiser with more than 11,000 donors on the platform GoFundMe proposes to acquire and publish embarrassing information about the bill's supporters – “everything from their medical, pornographic, to their financial and infidelity[-related]” internet activity.

More than $170,000 has been raised by that effort, launched by Tennessee software developer Adam McElhaney.

A second GoFundMe page started by "Supernatural" actor Misha Collins has raised more than $70,000 to "purchase the data of Donald Trump and every Congressperson who voted for [S.J.Res.34], and to make it publicly available."

A third effort, by Cards Against Humanity co-founder Max Temkin, is being self-financed by Temkin and the game company to "do whatever we can" to acquire and publish the internet records of lawmakers. The idea attracted a massive 80,000 upvotes on reddit.

“If this doesn’t give supporters buyers’ remorse, then nothing will,” says Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., who spoke forcefully against repeal of the Federal Communications Commission privacy regulation that would have required customers to opt in before their browsing histories are sold.

“The day will come when it is not just politicians who voted for this massive invasion of privacy, but business leaders, their spouses and children, too,” Capuano says.

But efforts to acquire the records of lawmakers have evoked conflicting stances about how easy it would be to do so once Trump signs the bill.

For one thing, internet providers would have to be willing to sell the information – and to dish not only on customers, but on people in a position to regulate them.

“No, this isn’t possible,” says Linda Johnson, a spokeswoman for internet service provider CenturyLink who emailed a link to the company’s privacy policies.

Spokespeople for Verizon and Comcast, two of the largest internet service providers, gave similar responses to inquiries about whether Americans can buy lawmakers' individual browsing records.

"The answer to this nonsensical question – that falls in the category of FAKE NEWS – is a flat-out NO," Verizon spokesman Rich Young says in an email. "This is nothing more than worthless dribble bouncing around on the internet."

Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice pointed to a techdirt article that says internet providers use largely anonymous interest and demographic information to lure advertisers.

Brian Dietz, a spokesman for The Internet & Television Association – a trade group of U.S. cable companies – says claims people can now buy a lawmaker's internet history are “a fabrication,” and that companies have committed to be transparent with customers about how their records are used.

If companies were willing to sell an individual’s internet browsing records, there’s an additional question about whether it would be legal – even without the FCC regulation.

“The short answer: almost certainly not,” says Alan Butler, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, about whether it would be legal to sell an individual's browsing records.

“There are still state laws that prohibit invasion of privacy, general if ill-defined statutory prohibitions on disclosure of CPNI [customer proprietary network information] and contractual provisions that would prohibit this,” he says.

Butler says he believes the federal Telecommunications Act's definition of CPNI covers browsing history. That means, he says, there would be “strict limits" on access to the records, as well as on their use and disclosure – particularly when it comes to records that identify specific users.

"If an [internet service provider] did sell an individual’s browsing history, they would get sued immediately,” he says.

A spokeswoman for USTelecom, a trade group that represents broadband and telecommunications companies, says internet service providers "are not selling customers’ browsing history to the public" and that "existing federal and state rules already bar companies from doing that."

Activists seeking the records, however, appear unpersuaded that obtaining them is beyond their reach.

"Oh, it’s 100 percent possible to buy the data,” says McElhaney, whose successful GoFundMe page was criticized as “a half-baked revenge plot” by TechCrunch journalist Taylor Hatmaker.

McElhaney has optimistically set up a website to host the internet records of congressional lawmakers, and he points to vendors already selling voluminous amounts of internet user activity as reason to believe service providers would do so.

“I think a lot of people are just scared,” he says. “They do not want to believe this is possible. I’m a realist.”

McElhaney says he has “no plans to withdraw the money until I am sure I can succeed,” and that if he's unsuccessful, he intends to either refund the money or – with donors’ permission – donate it to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Collins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. His GoFundMe page says money not used to buy congressional browsing records will be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Temkin of Cards Against Humanity is not raising money to buy records. He says the gamemaker has the funds to go it alone, evidenced by the fact it has given about $1 million to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation.

Temkin also says he’s astonished that what he calls a “funny tweet” he sent earlier in the week morphed into a firehose of internet enthusiasm. But still, he’s critical of others making “specific promises."

"Nobody knows what the marketplace for this information will look like," he says.

“What we think will happen is we'll be able to buy anonymized information, like what you'd get for ad targeting. And we'd be able to look at a congressional office building, for example," he says. "But it's also certainly possible if we keep going down this road of eroding privacy you'll be able to buy an individual's search history or something to that effect."

Temkin says "I wish I could tell you we'll see what [House Speaker] Paul Ryan is looking up on his cellphone," but that he's not sure that will happen.