| Entities | Biden White House (21) |
| Topics and Issues | Data brokers (44) |
In February 2024, the White House released a Fact Sheet on an Executive Order to Protect Americans’ Sensitive Personal Data. We have not yet seen the Executive Order. The White House said that this E.O. “marks the most significant executive action any President has ever taken to protect Americans’ data security, authorizes the Attorney General to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern and provides safeguards around other activities that can give those countries access to Americans’ sensitive data.” Several bills in Congress address the concern noted in the E.O. fact sheet.
While the E.O. focuses on “countries of concern,” there are broader implications for data provided by data brokers.
With the E.O., CFPB director Rohit Chopra said that “[c]onsistent with the executive order, the CFPB will propose rules to limit certain activities of data brokers, including those that sell personal data to those overseas.” Chopra added that “[c]orporate data brokers are assembling and selling extremely sensitive data on all of us, including U.S. military personnel, to foreign purchasers. The executive order calls on the CFPB to utilize its legal authorities to provide greater protections. This year, we will be proposing new rules to rein in these abuses that will safeguard families and our national security.”
The Fact Sheet said that “[c]ompanies are collecting more of Americans’ data than ever before, and it is often legally sold and resold through data brokers. Commercial data brokers and other companies can sell this data to countries of concern, or entities controlled by those countries, and it can land in the hands of foreign intelligence services, militaries, or companies controlled by foreign governments.