I see where your argument is coming from. Lobbyists give money to politicians who push legislation that favors lobbyists. In a sense that could be construed as a 'sale'.
But if we accept that premise, even in that case the only thing that was sold was the potential to infringe on privacy, not privacy itself.
Congressional Republicans don't own my privacy.
They can certainly make it easier for me to protect my privacy and have possibly made it harder after this vote, but they never owned it.
Yes, I don't think you should take the headline that literally - there's a touch of abstraction there. More literally, Congressional Republicans sold telcos a convenient legal avenue to violate your privacy. They didn't "possibly" make it harder... they added a massive new burden to your life if you care about your privacy. Read the other comments in this thread -- see how complex and incomplete the countermeasures seem to be, even for techies?
There are many ways the government protects your privacy such that you don't have to worry about it in X scenario. The Republicans sold one of those protections and added a new scenario to the list of things you have to worry about. The headline is pretty appropriate in context.
But if we accept that premise, even in that case the only thing that was sold was the potential to infringe on privacy, not privacy itself.
Congressional Republicans don't own my privacy.
They can certainly make it easier for me to protect my privacy and have possibly made it harder after this vote, but they never owned it.