I guess my question would still be whether aggregate information might do enough to inform us about candidates. How about if there was access to data about giving from Fortune 500 executives in total? Or from executives in the petrochemical industry or trial lawyers or whatever occupational (or other) classification might be meaningful? I’ve pointed before to the Census Bureau as a government institution that gives out immensely useful aggregate data while generally doing a good job protecting individual privacy.

I still think Ian Ayres had it right–people should have the right to give whatever they want, but anonymously–so even the recipient doesn’t know the identity of the donor.