US President Joe Biden will issue an executive order on Wednesday aimed at safeguarding the personal data of US citizens from countries deemed hostile.
The executive order focuses on the business of selling people’s personal information, in which companies and so-called data brokers collect and trade data. The Biden administration is concerned that data brokers and other commercial entities will sell that information to so-called “countries of concern,” which lawmakers say have a history of collecting and misusing data on Americans.
Those “countries of concern” include China (along with Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela, according to a briefing in EO Lawmakers and intelligence agencies have previously expressed concerns that the Chinese Communist Party is gathering a wealth of data on the US, raising national security concerns.
The order focuses on specific, sensitive information such as genomic data, biometric data, personal health data, geographic location data, financial data and other types of personal information. The White House is concerned that “countries of concern” could use this sensitive data to spy on Americans and members of the military.
“Our adversaries are exploiting Americans’ sensitive personal data to threaten our national security,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “They’re buying this data to use it to blackmail and monitor people, target those they see as dissidents here in the United States, and engage in other nefarious activities.”
The executive order will direct the Department of Justice to issue various regulations intended to protect sensitive data. It would also direct the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to establish security standards intended to prevent hostile countries from obtaining commercially sensitive data about Americans through means such as investments, vendor contracts and employment relationships.
“This executive order gives the Department of Justice the authority to prevent countries that pose a threat to our national security from collecting Americans’ most sensitive personal data—including human genome data, biometric and personal identifiers, and personal health and financial data,” Garland said. in a statement.
In addition, the order directs the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Sector “to consider threats to the sensitive personal information of Americans” when conducting inspections of submarine cable permits, the White House added.
In addition, the EO will allow various government agencies such as the State, Commerce and Treasury Departments to set rules, licensing decisions and designate “covered persons,” the prospectus said. The actions and program established by the EO will effectively regulate any US person data transactions with these “covered persons,” who are considered individuals with direct ties or ties to “countries of concern,” among other characteristics.
The public will be able to provide comments on the new data regulation proposals “before any final rule is issued,” the prospectus said. “Companies and individuals will be required to comply with the regulations only after the final rule becomes effective,” the document added.
The Justice Department will investigate any violations of the new data regulations once they take effect, and the agency will seek “civil and criminal remedies,” the newsletter said. Additionally, the document said any “civil penalties for violations” would “depend on the facts and circumstances of the violation, including the adequacy of any compliance program.”
Last week, the Biden administration announced an executive order aimed at improving the cybersecurity of US ports. For example, government officials have said that 80 percent of port equipment known as ship-to-shore crane ports is made in China, and they are concerned that the equipment could be compromised and used for surveillance.
Congress has also zeroed in on potential privacy risks posed by the data broker industry. Last May, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent letters to more than 20 companies including Equifax and Oracle, asking for information about their data collection and distribution methods.
“U.S. privacy concerns in the data broker industry are not new, and existing laws do not adequately protect Americans’ data from misuse,” the letter said.
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