President Joseph Biden has issued an executive order intended to protect Americans’ sensitive personal data from exploitation from countries of concern including China, Russa, Iran, and North Korea.
Issued February 28, the order authorizes the attorney general to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern and offers safeguards around other activities that can give these countries access to this sensitive data.
“Countries of concern can rely on advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, to analyze and manipulate bulk sensitive personal data to engage in espionage, influence, kinetic, or cyber operations or to identify other potential strategic advantages over the United States,” the order said.
The order focuses on data including genomic data, biometric data, personal health data, and certain kinds of personally identifiable information. “Bad actors can use this data to track Americans, including military service members, prying into their personal lives and passing data on to other data brokers and foreign intelligence services. This data can be used for intrusive surveillance, blackmail, scams, and other violations of privacy,” the order states.
The White House said companies are collecting more of Americans’ data than before and it often is legally sold and resold through data brokers. The data can be sold to countries of concern or entities controlled by those countries. Foreign intelligence services, militaries, or companies controlled by foreign governments can end up controlling this data.
Biden’s directive includes having the US Department of Justice issue regulations to establish protections for Americans’ sensitive personal data. These protections extend to the following data categories: genomic, biometric, personal health, financial data, and certain kinds of personal identifiers. This will prevent large-scale transfer of that data to countries of concern. Also, regulations are to be issued to establish greater protection of sensitive government-related data.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security will work together on standards to prevent access by countries of concern to Americans’ data through commercial means. The Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs are to help ensure that federal grants, contracts, and awards are not used to enable access to Americans’ sensitive health data by countries of concern.
Biden also is encouraging Congress to pass privacy legislation, especially to protect children. The executive order happens in the same week that the Biden administration urged software developers to use memory-safe programming languages and abandon the use of C and C++.