{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://davidson.house.gov/2023/6/reps-davidson-eshoo-introduce-the-protecting-americans-data-from-foreign-surveillance-act", "Reps. Davidson, Eshoo Introduce The Protecting Americans\u2019 Data from Foreign Surveillance Act", "2023-06-14", "2023", "2023-06", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Warren Davidson", "D000626", "davidson.house.gov", "davidson", "https://davidson.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Wyden, Lummis, Whitehouse, Hagerty, Heinrich and Rubio Introduce Bipartisan Senate Companion Bill to Protect Americans\u2019 Data from Unfriendly Foreign Nations\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) today introduced legislation to protect Americans\u2019 data from being exploited by unfriendly foreign nations, and apply tough criminal and civil penalties to prevent employees of foreign corporations like TikTok from accessing U.S. data from abroad. The Protecting Americans\u2019 Data from Foreign Surveillance Act of 2023 was also introduced in the Senate today by Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, along with co-sponsors Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Bill Hagerty, Sen. Martin Heinrich, and Sen. Marco Rubio.\n\n\u201cFreedom surrendered is rarely reclaimed. This bipartisan legislation represents progress on the effort to protect privacy by banning the export of sensitive personal data. Our data has been sold, hacked, stolen, and exploited by foreign entities\u2014Congress is fighting back,\u201d said Rep. Warren Davidson.\n\n\u201cToday, there are no laws preventing foreign companies from purchasing and sharing large quantities of Americans\u2019 personal data,\u201d said Rep. Eshoo. \u201cOur national security is at risk, and the bipartisan Protecting Americans\u2019 Data from Foreign Surveillance Act will stop the export of large amounts of Americans\u2019 personal information to foreign adversaries and preserve Americans\u2019 right to privacy.\u201d\n\n\u201cMassive pools of Americans\u2019 sensitive information \u2014 everything from where we go, to what we buy and what kind of health care services we receive \u2014 are for sale to buyers in China, Russia and nearly anyone with a credit card,\u201d Wyden said. \u201cOur bipartisan bill would turn off the tap of data to unfriendly nations, stop TikTok from sending Americans\u2019 personal information to China, and allow nations with strong privacy protections to strengthen their relationships.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe privacy and security of our data is essential to the freedoms we hold dear. If foreign adversaries can access our data, they can control it. We need to ensure the data that people in Wyoming put online is not available to nations that threaten our safety and security. With this bipartisan legislation, we will ensure that companies like TikTok are not funneling your personal data to those adversaries,\u201d said Senator Lummis.\n\n\u201cData brokers dolling out Americans\u2019 personal information to companies in foreign nations can be more than a violation of privacy \u2013 it can be a serious national security threat,\u201d said Senator Whitehouse. \u201cWe need sensible rules of the road to prevent our personal data from falling into the wrong hands.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe ability for foreign companies to legally obtain Americans\u2019 sensitive and private information undermines national security and infringes personal privacy,\u201d said Senator Hagerty. \u201cI\u2019m pleased to work with my colleagues to protect Americans\u2019 personal data from being weaponized by adversaries.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t export advanced technologies or weapon systems to our adversaries for good reason. We shouldn\u2019t allow data brokers to export Americans\u2019 personal data either,\u201d Senator Heinrich said. \u201cThis bill would protect Americans\u2019 health care records, geolocations, web browsing activity, and other information from adversaries who could use it for nefarious purposes. Increasingly, data is the new gold \u2013 and we need to treat it accordingly.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is common sense to prevent our adversaries from obtaining the highly sensitive personal information of millions of Americans. We cannot trust private companies to protect Americans\u2019 private data, especially given how many of them do business in China. Our bill would address this massive national security threat and protect Americans\u2019 privacy,\u201d said Senator Rubio.\n\nIn April 2021, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned of the threat posed by unrestricted commercial data sales: \u201cThere\u2019s a concern about foreign adversaries getting commercially-acquired information as well, and [I] am absolutely committed to trying to do everything we can to reduce that possibility.\u201d\n\nThe Protecting Americans\u2019 Data From Foreign Surveillance Act of 2023 updates the previously introduced bill to include new protections against foreign-owned companies like TikTok accessing U.S. data from abroad, or sending data to unfriendly foreign nations. This bill:\n\nDirects the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with other key agencies, to identify categories of personal data that, if exported, could harm U.S. national security.\n\nDirects the Secretary of Commerce to compile a list of low-risk countries, where data can be shared without restrictions, a list of high-risk countries where exports of sensitive data will be blocked, and create a system to issue licenses for data exports to nations not on either list. The risk status of countries will be determined based on:\n\nthe adequacy and enforcement of the country\u2019s privacy and export control laws\n\nthe circumstances under which the foreign government can compel, coerce, or pay a person in that country to disclose personal data\n\nwhether that foreign government has conducted hostile foreign intelligence operations against the United States.\n\nIn addition to regulating bulk exports, the bill also regulates all exports of personal data by data brokers and firms like TikTok directly to restricted foreign governments, to parent companies in restricted foreign countries and to persons designated on the Bureau of Industry and Security\u2019s Entity List.\n\nExempts from the new export rules data encrypted with NIST-approved technology.\n\nEnsures the export rules do not apply to journalism and other First Amendment protected speech.\n\nApplies export control penalties to senior executives who knew or should have known that employees below them were directed to illegally export Americans\u2019 personal data.\n\nThe bill has been endorsed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the R Street Institute and Justin Sherman, senior fellow and data brokerage research lead, and David Hoffman, professor of cybersecurity policy, Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, experts on the sale and exploitation of Americans\u2019 data.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:15:57Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://davidson.house.gov/2023/6/reps-davidson-eshoo-introduce-the-protecting-americans-data-from-foreign-surveillance-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.895114779472351, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}