Washington – The move comes weeks after federal lawmakers voted to expand the U.S. government's power to surveil its citizens, restricting federal agencies' ability to collect people's personal information in other ways, including purchasing personal information. A bill is being passed by Congress.
Companies called data brokers, which collect personal information and sell documents about civilians, have mushroomed in recent years to become a multi-hundred billion dollar industry.
The House of Representatives on April 18 bans law enforcement and intelligence agencies from purchasing information from data brokers and prohibits them from using such records as evidence in trials, hearings, or other legal proceedings. The bill (HR 4639) was passed.
New Jersey's House members are divided in their votes for the bill, and while the Senate has not yet taken up the bill, Republicans and Democrats in the chamber, including Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, are has criticized federal programs that collect private digital information. data.
Data privacy has grown into an area of bipartisan compromise on Capitol Hill in recent years, contested primarily between left-leaning Democrats and Republicans with a liberal approach to policymaking.
Four New Jersey senators: Democrats Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th) and Frank Pallone (D-6th), Republicans Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) and Chris Mr. Smith (R-4th) voted against another bill last month: It would expand U.S. surveillance programs designed to collect information on foreign nationals.
Expansion of FISA
By expanding the program, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Congress would require U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, such as the FBI, to request information about U.S. civilians' contacts with foreign nationals. The authority to do so has been strengthened.
A bipartisan audit report released in September found that the program was also misused by a U.S. senator and a state judge, including to surveil protesters against police brutality in 2020.
Before Congress passed expansion of the program, House lawmakers stalled on a bipartisan amendment that would require the U.S. government to obtain a warrant before accessing Americans' personal data.
Police and intelligence agencies can circumvent warrant requirements in their daily operations by purchasing information from data brokers.
The House passed the amendment 212-212, with the same four New Jersey members Watson Coleman, Pallone, Van Drew, and Smith voting yes, and the late Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th) voting in favor. ), the remaining members voted in favor. He voted against the warrant request and died on April 24 after being hospitalized for several weeks.
Police and intelligence agencies can circumvent warrant requirements in their daily operations by purchasing information from data brokers.
Sumaiya Waheed, senior policy adviser at the civil rights group Muslim Advocates, said in a phone interview that the process “potentially turns our own devices against us” on cellphones and other electronic devices. He said while referring to it.
The data broker bill was originally supposed to be part of the broader FISA law that expanded the scope of the Section 702 program, Waheed said.
The bill passed the House on April 18 by a vote of 219-199, with 123 Republicans and 96 Democrats voting in favor. This was an unusual combination in a deeply divided chamber. Mr. Pallone, Mr. Van Drew, and Mr. Watson Coleman voted yes, and the rest of New Jersey's delegation voted no.
Fierce battle in the Senate
Opposition from lawmakers from both parties and President Joe Biden's administration remains a high hurdle for passage in the Senate.
The White House Budget Office said in a statement last month that it would “generally prohibit intelligence and law enforcement agencies from obtaining certain commercially available information, but with limited and unworkable exceptions.” limited to,” he said. “This does not affect the ability of foreign adversaries or the private sector to obtain and use the same information, thereby threatening the national security of Americans while simultaneously overriding the privacy interests of Americans.” I will do it.”
Sen. Cory Booker, four Democrats in Congress, called for an investigation into Apple and Google's “unfair and deceptive practices by enabling the collection and sale of the personal data of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users.” It was one of the people.
Police advocacy groups such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police also oppose the bill, saying it would limit the use of map data by police officers in the course of their work.
“Geolocation data is an invaluable tool in law enforcement's ability to prevent and solve crimes, locate suspects, and collect critical evidence,” the groups state in a statement from Senate Democrats and Republicans. In a recent letter to leaders of “Without access to this type of data, investigators are unable to ‘connect the dots’ – see patterns and establish connections between crimes and perpetrators.”
If the Senate votes on the data broker bill, Menendez's recent voting record suggests he will support it. Last month, he voted in favor of an amendment to attach the bill to a broader intelligence agency bill.
Other concerns
Booker also expressed concern about the influence of data brokers, particularly the location data of people visiting abortion clinics.
In May 2022, a month before the Supreme Court voted to strip away the constitutional right to abortion, Booker and other Senate Democrats sent a letter to two data brokers requesting that companies' data on people visiting abortion clinics be stolen. Requested information about collection patterns.
Booker also called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google for their “unfair and deceptive practices by enabling the collection and sale of the personal data of hundreds of millions of mobile phone users.” He is also one of the four.
In a letter to Lina Khan, chair of the government's independent consumer protection agency, MPs said the two tech giants had failed to warn the public about how their data was being sold and used.
“By failing to warn consumers about the foreseeable harms that result from using their phones with the default settings selected by these companies, Apple and Google have made it difficult for governments and private entities to use advertising for their own surveillance. “This constitutes a serious violation of privacy, allowing the tracking system to be exploited and putting hundreds of millions of Americans at risk,” the letter reads in part.
— Chart by Genesis Obando