A week following the House of Representatives’ approval of a bill mandating TikTok to disassociate from its Chinese parent corporation, a second piece of legislation aimed at safeguarding Americans’ personal data from foreign threats was passed.
Named the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, or HR 7520, this new law intends to block data brokers from trading personally identifiable information of Americans to foreign adversaries, which includes nations like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Violators, especially those dealing in sensitive data such as location or health information, could face repercussions from the Federal Trade Commission. The bill received unanimous support, passing with a vote of all 414 members in favour.
The initiative, led by Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the committee’s Ranking Member, achieved unanimous support from the committee, mirroring the broad backing the preceding TikTok legislation received. The lawmakers aim for this duo of bills to enhance the protection of US internet users and fortify national security.
In a collective statement released on Wednesday, McMorris Rodgers and Pallone emphasized that this new legislation builds upon their prior efforts and serves as a crucial supplement to more exhaustive national data privacy legislation, towards which they continue to strive collaboratively.
This legislation does not target specific companies; instead, it broadly prohibits data brokers from engaging in the sale, lease, trade, or dissemination of sensitive US individuals’ data to foreign adversaries or entities under their control. It assigns the Federal Trade Commission the role of enforcing the act.
The types of sensitive data specified include biometric and genetic details, Social Security numbers, medical diagnoses or treatments, and precise geolocation information. Should this bill be enacted into law following Senate approval and presidential endorsement, it would mark a significant enhancement in data privacy protections for Americans, setting a new standard in an area where progress has been limited.
Despite the stagnation in broader privacy law discussions in recent years, the overwhelming support for the data broker bill has sparked optimism among its proponents, McMorris Rodgers and Pallone, who believe this momentum could catalyze the advancement of more comprehensive privacy legislation within the current Congress. They expressed their encouragement by the strong bipartisan support the bill garnered, hoping it paves the way for significant privacy reforms to be enacted.
