Protecting Americans' Data From Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024
Floor Speech
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7520) to prohibit data brokers from transferring sensitive data of United States individuals to foreign adversaries, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 7520
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024''. SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE SENSITIVE DATA OF UNITED STATES INDIVIDUALS TO FOREIGN ADVERSARIES.
(a) Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for a data broker to sell, license, rent, trade, transfer, release, disclose, provide access to, or otherwise make available personally identifiable sensitive data of a United States individual to--
(1) any foreign adversary country; or
(2) any entity that is controlled by a foreign adversary.
(b) Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.--
(1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of this section shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or a deceptive act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
(2) Powers of commission.--
(A) In general.--The Commission shall enforce this section in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this section.
(B) Privileges and immunities.--Any person who violates this section shall be subject to the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act.
(3) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this section may be construed to limit the authority of the Commission under any other provision of law.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal Trade Commission.
(2) Controlled by a foreign adversary.--The term ``controlled by a foreign adversary'' means, with respect to an individual or entity, that such individual or entity is--
(A) a foreign person that is domiciled in, is headquartered in, has its principal place of business in, or is organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country;
(B) an entity with respect to which a foreign person or combination of foreign persons described in subparagraph (A) directly or indirectly own at least a 20 percent stake; or
(C) a person subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B).
(3) Data broker.--
(A) In general.--The term ``data broker'' means an entity that, for valuable consideration, sells, licenses, rents, trades, transfers, releases, discloses, provides access to, or otherwise makes available data of United States individuals that the entity did not collect directly from such individuals to another entity that is not acting as a service provider.
(B) Exclusion.--The term ``data broker'' does not include an entity to the extent such entity--
(i) is transmitting data of a United States individual, including communications of such an individual, at the request or direction of such individual;
(ii) is providing, maintaining, or offering a product or service with respect to which personally identifiable sensitive data, or access to such data, is not the product or service;
(iii) is reporting or publishing news or information that concerns local, national, or international events or other matters of public interest;
(iv) is reporting, publishing, or otherwise making available news or information that is available to the general public--
(I) including information from--
(aa) a book, magazine, telephone book, or online directory;
(bb) a motion picture;
(cc) a television, internet, or radio program;
(dd) the news media; or
(ee) an internet site that is available to the general public on an unrestricted basis; and
(II) not including an obscene visual depiction (as such term is used in section 1460 of title 18, United States Code); or
(v) is acting as a service provider.
(4) Foreign adversary country.--The term ``foreign adversary country'' means a country specified in section 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code.
(5) Personally identifiable sensitive data.--The term ``personally identifiable sensitive data'' means any sensitive data that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable, alone or in combination with other data, to an individual or a device that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to an individual.
(6) Precise geolocation information.--The term ``precise geolocation information'' means information that--
(A) is derived from a device or technology of an individual; and
(B) reveals the past or present physical location of an individual or device that identifies or is linked or reasonably linkable to 1 or more individuals, with sufficient precision to identify street level location information of an individual or device or the location of an individual or device within a range of 1,850 feet or less.
(7) Sensitive data.--The term ``sensitive data'' includes the following:
(A) A government-issued identifier, such as a Social Security number, passport number, or driver's license number.
(B) Any information that describes or reveals the past, present, or future physical health, mental health, disability, diagnosis, or healthcare condition or treatment of an individual.
(C) A financial account number, debit card number, credit card number, or information that describes or reveals the income level or bank account balances of an individual.
(D) Biometric information.
(E) Genetic information.
(F) Precise geolocation information.
(G) An individual's private communications such as voicemails, emails, texts, direct messages, mail, voice communications, and video communications, or information identifying the parties to such communications or pertaining to the transmission of such communications, including telephone numbers called, telephone numbers from which calls were placed, the time calls were made, call duration, and location information of the parties to the call.
(H) Account or device log-in credentials, or security or access codes for an account or device.
(I) Information identifying the sexual behavior of an individual.
(J) Calendar information, address book information, phone or text logs, photos, audio recordings, or videos, maintained for private use by an individual, regardless of whether such information is stored on the individual's device or is accessible from that device and is backed up in a separate location.
(K) A photograph, film, video recording, or other similar medium that shows the naked or undergarment-clad private area of an individual.
(L) Information revealing the video content requested or selected by an individual.
(M) Information about an individual under the age of 17.
(N) An individual's race, color, ethnicity, or religion.
(O) Information identifying an individual's online activities over time and across websites or online services.
(P) Information that reveals the status of an individual as a member of the Armed Forces.
(Q) Any other data that a data broker sells, licenses, rents, trades, transfers, releases, discloses, provides access to, or otherwise makes available to a foreign adversary country, or entity that is controlled by a foreign adversary, for the purpose of identifying the types of data listed in subparagraphs (A) through (P).
(8) Service provider.--The term ``service provider'' means an entity that--
(A) collects, processes, or transfers data on behalf of, and at the direction of--
(i) an individual or entity that is not a foreign adversary country or controlled by a foreign adversary; or
(ii) a Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, or local government entity; and
(B) receives data from or on behalf of an individual or entity described in subparagraph (A)(i) or a Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, or local government entity.
(9) United states individual.--The term ``United States individual'' means a natural person residing in the United States.
(d) Effective Date.--This section shall take effect on the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today in support of H.R. 7520, the Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024.
Data brokers are harvesting people's sensitive data and selling or sharing it without people's knowledge or consent. To make matters worse, they often do this without any safeguards against this sensitive information going to foreign adversaries who could easily exploit it for nefarious purposes.
This sensitive information includes everything from a person's physical and mental health to their geolocation data. Oftentimes, it is sold to the highest bidder, including to foreign adversaries like China and the companies they control.
H.R. 7520 will limit how data brokers are able to share Americans' personally identifiable and sensitive information abroad.
I commend my Energy and Commerce Committee colleague Ranking Member Pallone for his leadership on this legislation. It is an important complement to our ongoing efforts to establish a comprehensive data privacy standard, one that cracks down on abuses of Americans' personal information by narrowing the information that is collected in the first place and putting people back in control of their personal information.
Today is an opportunity to send a very clear message that the U.S. will not tolerate the continued targeting, surveilling, and exploitation of Americans' data.
This bill advanced out of our committee with a unanimous, bipartisan 50-0 vote. I look forward to it passing the House this week, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), who is the chairman of the subcommittee.
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).
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Mrs. RODGERS of Washington. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Madam Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill that would prohibit data brokers from profiting off the sale or the transfer of sensitive data of U.S. individuals and specifically that of U.S. military servicemembers to a foreign adversary country or any entity that is controlled by such country.
The term ``controlled by a foreign adversary'' parallels the definition of H.R. 7521, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, that we passed last week out of the House 352-65.
I believe that this is very important legislation also to complement that effort and our continued work to enact legislation that would bring a national privacy and data security law into place.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.
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