Biden Signs Executive Order Stopping Bulk Data Transfers
U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that is expected to restrict the mass transfer of Americans’ personal data to select countries. Let us look at the development’s privacy and cybersecurity implications.
- President Biden signed a major executive order concerning data transfers to other countries to balance companies’ needs with consumer rights and national security requirements.
- The executive order could create a foundation for protections pertaining to the mass transfer of American citizens’ data through future legislation and international agreements.
U.S. President Joe Biden has signed a new executive order that aims to improve protections for Americans’ personal data, including sensitive information such as health data, biometrics, and geolocation, particularly from countries of concern, including China and Russia. The order will allow government bodies such as the Department of Justice to stop the large-scale transfer of personal data.
Biden’s executive orders will largely affect businesses, such as commercial data brokers, that have often been found to indulge in trafficking personal data, which authorities fear could be sold to countries adversarial to the United States. However, implementing the order could take time, considering the creation of enforcement mechanisms and processes involved in rule creation.
The executive order directs the Department of Justice (DoJ) to set up regulations that will protect sensitive information of government and American citizens from countries of concern, including China, Russia, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba, and Iran. Officials from the DoJ are expected to collaborate with counterparts from Homeland Security on the project.
The U.S. government will eventually hope to be able to limit bodies backed by foreign governments from the improper collection and processing of data. The executive order is critical as purchasing information from data broker businesses is still legal, while hacking is not. This has major implications in terms of national security as bad actors could leverage the personal data of individuals, such as government officials, for privacy violations, spying, blackmail, and more. Whether the authorities will be able to control the export of all sensitive information without the support of Congress remains to be determined.
Do you think governments are doing enough to manage the impacts of uncontrolled data asset transfers? Let us know your thoughts on LinkedIn, X, or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
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