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.
“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
“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
Chopra also emphasized privacy and data protection across the CFPB's other efforts.
of
Under the proposed Open Banking rules, companies that collect data can only use it for specific approved reasons and cannot sell the information.