Here’s how Biden wants to protect Americans’ data from Russia, China and beyond
Biden will issue a new executive order aimed at safeguarding the personal data of American citizens from countries deemed hostile. The business of selling personal information, in which companies and so-called "data brokers" collect and exchange data, is targeted.
Biden wants to stem the activity of data brokers and other companies that sell Americans' data to organizations in foreign adversary countries, including China and Russia .
The president of the United States will sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at protecting Americans' personal data, from biometrics to medical records, finances and geolocation. The measure aims to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans' personal data to what the White House calls "countries of concern," while creating safeguards around other activities that may give those countries access to sensitive data.
Biden's move targets commercial data brokers, the sometimes shadowy companies that traffic in personal data. The goal of the executive order is to safeguard Americans' data without limiting legitimate data trade, senior Biden administration officials told the press, as reported by AP .
“This is the first time a president has attempted to crack down on third-party sales and access to data collected on U.S. citizens by technology, advertising and marketing companies,” Axios reports .
All the details.
WHAT DOES BIDEN'S EXECUTIVE ORDER SAY FOR AMERICANS' DATA
“Purchasing data through data brokers is currently legal in the United States. This reflects a gap in our national security toolkit,” U.S. government officials told Reuters , saying Wednesday's order aimed to fill that gap.
The executive order focuses on specific and sensitive information such as genomic data, biometric data, personal health data, geolocation data, financial data, and other types of personally identifiable information.
COUNTRIES DEFINED AS WORRYING
The order will curb bulk transfers of Americans' sensitive data by data brokers and others to specific "countries of concern," officials said.
Among these, in addition to China and Russia, there are also Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.
According to officials, “China and Russia are purchasing sensitive American personal data from data brokers” and are exploiting it “to engage in a variety of nefarious activities, including malicious cyber-enabled activities, espionage, and blackmail.”
DATA BROKERS IN THE FOCUS
Data brokers are legal in the United States and collect and classify information about people based on their online activities, including their social media activity, the advertisements they click on, and more, usually to create profiles on millions of Americans . Brokers then sell that data to marketers and other legitimate businesses to help them target the right audiences.
But governments, including U.S. spy agencies, also often purchase large amounts of data from brokers, Axios finds.
WHAT THEY SHOULD DO
Therefore, US companies involved in data sales and transfers will be required to obtain commitments from buyers that their sales will not end up in the hands of adversary governments or organizations, a senior Justice Department official told reporters.
THE ROLE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Under the executive order, the Justice Department will propose a rule that will restrict and prohibit most bulk data transfers of Americans' personal information to adversary nations and organizations based in those countries.
The Justice Department also plans to work with Homeland Security officials to create security standards to prevent foreign adversaries from collecting data.
However, “it is unclear how the Justice Department would apply the rule if a U.S. data broker sells to a third party who then sells that data to an organization in an adversary country,” notes Axios .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/biden-dati-russia-e-cina/ on Thu, 29 Feb 2024 07:09:15 +0000.