Biden aims to curb consumer data sharing with adversaries

Ting Sheng/Bloomberg

President Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order aimed at strengthening safeguards for Americans’ personal data, expanding the scope of data privacy efforts already underway at financial regulators.

The White House’s actions, which focus on protecting information such as genomic, biometric and financial data, are aimed at preventing the transfer or sale of customer data to hostile countries.

The executive order calls on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to take further action. Protect Americans from data collectors. Following the White House’s announcement, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a written statement that the agency plans to propose new rules later this year to “curb these abuses.”

“Today’s executive order is a reminder of the urgent need to protect Americans’ personal data,” Chopra said in a statement. “Corporate data brokers collect highly sensitive data about all of us, including U.S. military personnel, and sell it to foreign buyers.”

Biden’s executive order directs multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Veterans Affairs, to develop regulations and security standards that limit access to data by “countries of concern.” There is. The White House fact sheet does not list specific countries, but other reports have mentioned China and Russia. Information obtained through “commercial means,” such as investments, vendors, or employment relationships, should also be protected, according to the order.

A White House fact sheet about the order states: “The sale of Americans’ data poses significant privacy, counterintelligence, extortion risks, and other national security risks.”

The order includes a warning that data privacy regulations and enforcement must not “stop the flow of information necessary for financial services activities” or adversely affect economic relations between the United States and other countries. .

Chi Chi Wu, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, on Wednesday urged the CFPB to issue proposed rules as soon as possible. In a written statement, he said strong regulation is needed to ensure data brokers act responsibly.

Over the past year, the CFPB has taken several steps to strengthen consumer data protections.

In August, the agency Participated in a White House roundtable Regarding “harmful data broker practices,” Chopra said the CFPB will propose rules to increase accountability for data aggregators. He said the harms caused by data brokers include facilitating fraud and harassment.

“After conducting research into the practices of data brokers in the surveillance industry, we have decided to initiate rulemaking to ensure that modern digital data brokers do not misuse or abuse our sensitive data.”Chopra He spoke at a roundtable discussion.

In September, the CFPB Proposes major changes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act The regulation would designate data brokers as “credit reporting companies” and bring them under the regulatory umbrella. By incorporating these companies into the 1970 law, the CFPB aims to prevent data brokers from selling their data for uses beyond those deemed permissible by Congress. For example, you can’t sell your data to companies that want to use the information to train AI algorithms or target advertising. Under the proposal, consumers would also have the right to access and object to their data.

Chopra also emphasized privacy and data protection across the CFPB’s other efforts.

of Open banking plans proposed by government agencieswill be released in October and will give consumers more control over their financial data by restricting which companies can collect, hold and sell it.

Under the proposed Open Banking rules, companies that collect data can only use it for specific approved reasons and cannot sell the information.