{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-sanders-wyden-whitehouse-renew-push-to-protect-americans-sensitive-data-from-greedy-brokers", "Warren, Sanders, Wyden, Whitehouse Renew Push to Protect Americans\u2019 Sensitive Data From Greedy Brokers", "2024-12-10", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren, Sanders, Wyden, Whitehouse Renew Push to Protect Americans\u2019 Sensitive Data From Greedy Brokers\n\nLegislation would ban brokers from selling Americans\u2019 location and health data, rein in giant data brokers, and set some long overdue limits on the industry\n\nMillions of Americans' data is collected and sold by data brokers for massive profits\n\nBill Text | One-Pager\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) reintroduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, legislation banning data brokers from selling Americans\u2019 sensitive personal information. Data gathered by brokers has been used to circumvent the Fourth Amendment, out LGBTQ+ Americans, and stalk and harass individuals. Recently, some brokers have been caught selling the cellphone-based location data of people visiting abortion clinics, risking the safety and security of women seeking basic health care.\n\nThe $200 billion industry is largely unregulated by federal law. Data brokers gather personal data, such as location data from weather or prayer apps, often without consumers\u2019 consent or knowledge. Brokers sell this data in bulk to virtually any willing buyer, reaping massive profits. These predatory and invasive practices pose real dangers to Americans\u2019 privacy and safety.\n\n\u201cData brokers are raking in giant profits from selling Americans\u2019 most private information \u2013 even location tracking data from visits to clinics for reproductive care,\u201d said Senator Warren. \u201cAs Republicans ramp up efforts to criminalize abortion, it\u2019s more important than ever to crack down on greedy data brokers and protect Americans\u2019 privacy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe ability to buy the information of women who visit abortion clinics and track them back to their homes is everything a repressive right-wing prosecutor could dream of,\u201d Senator Wyden said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t hypothetical either: far-right activists have already paid data brokers to target women who visit abortion clinics on their personal electronic devices with misinformation about their reproductive choices. It\u2019s high time for Congress to put privacy first and crack down on the shady data brokers who are selling sensitive personal data to make a quick buck.\u201d\n\n\u201cData hunters have no business collecting Americans\u2019 most sensitive information without their consent. I\u2019m pleased to join Senator Warren in reintroducing this timely bill safeguarding personal health and location data, particularly when women are looking over their shoulder as Republicans continue their attacks on abortion and other reproductive health care,\u201d said Senator Whitehouse.\n\nThe Health and Location Data Protection Act would:\n\nBan data brokers from selling or transferring health and location data and require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate rules to implement the law within 180 days, while making exceptions for HIPAA-compliant activities, protected First Amendment speech, and validly authorized disclosures.\n\nEnsure robust enforcement of the bill\u2019s provisions by empowering the FTC, state attorneys general, and injured persons to sue to enforce the provisions of the law.\n\nProvide $1 billion in funding to the Federal Trade Commission over the next decade to carry out its work, including the enforcement of this law.\n\nSenator Warren has used oversight and policy tools to protect the sensitive data of American consumers from Big Tech companies and data brokers:\n\nIn October 2024, Senators Warren, Ron Wyden, and Richard Blumenthal, along with Representative Katie Porter wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) urging the investigation and prosecution of major tax preparation companies for illegally sharing protected and sensitive taxpayer information with Big Tech firms.\n\nIn May 2024, Senators Warren, Ron Wyden, and Sheldon Whitehouse, along with Representative Katie Porter sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, among others, calling on them to investigate use and disclosures of legally protected and sensitive taxpayer information by tax prep companies.\n\nIn April 2024, Senators Warren, Bill Cassidy, and Richard Blumenthal wrote to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) urging an assessment of the cybersecurity landscape leading up to, and after, the Change Healthcare cyberattack.\n\nIn April 2024, at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Senator Warren pushed back on Big Tech\u2019s misleading claims that \u201cfree data flows\u201d provisions in trade agreements will help combat China\u2019s digital authoritarianism, when the opposite in fact is true.\n\nIn January 2024. at a hearing of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Senator Elizabeth Warren questioned Emily Kilcrease, Senior Fellow and Director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, on the national security risks posed by digital trade rules that allow tech companies to collect, sell, and store Americans\u2019 data wherever is cheapest, including China.\n\nIn November 2023, Senators Warren, Ed Markey, John Kennedy, and Jeff Merkley joined their colleagues in introducing the bipartisan Traveler Privacy Protection Act, which would ban the use of facial recognition technology and the collection of facial biometric data by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in U.S. airports.\n\nIn November 2023, Senators Warren and Bill Cassidy, M.D. released statements after Duke University published a report highlighting the detail, ease, and volume at which data brokers are selling the personal data of U.S. service members to web addresses located both in the United States and abroad.\n\nIn September 2023, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, expressing concerns about the implementation of the contract the Department of Defense (DoD) awarded to Leidos Partnership for Defense Health (Leidos) for the Military Health System (MHS) Genesis electronic health record system, after reports that the use of MHS Genesis may be contributing to delays in military recruiting, creating barriers to accessing benefits information, and invading the privacy of service members and military recruits.\n\nIn July 2023, Senators Warren and Lindsey Graham unveiled comprehensive legislation that would rein in Big Tech by establishing a new commission to regulate online platforms. The commission would have concurrent jurisdiction with FTC and DOJ, and would be responsible for overseeing and enforcing the new statutory provisions in the bill and implementing rules to promote competition, protect privacy, protect consumers, and strengthen our national security.\n\nIn July 2023, Senator Warren opened an investigation into a disturbing report on Google\u2019s confidential effort to secure exclusive access to millions of tissue samples held at the Department of Defense\u2019s (DoD) Joint Pathology Center (JPC).\n\nIn March 2023, Senators Warren, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) introduced the Upholding Protections for Health and Online Location Data (UPHOLD) Privacy Act, legislation that would expand protections for Americans\u2019 personal health data by preventing companies from profiting off of personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes, allow consumers greater access to and ownership over their personal health information, restrict companies\u2019 ability to collect or use information about personal health without user consent, and ban data brokers from selling location data.\n\nIn March 2023, Senators Warren, Cassidy, and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) reintroduced the Protecting Military Service Members\u2019 Data Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill that would protect the data of U.S. service members by preventing data brokers from selling lists of military personnel to adversarial nations including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. They first introduced the bill in May 2022.\n\nIn June 2022, Senators Warren, Cory Booker, and Ron Wyden sent letters to two leading mental health apps, expressing deep concerns about the companies\u2019 use of patients\u2019 personal health data.\n\nIn June 2022, Senators Warren, Wyden, Patty Murray, Sheldon Whitehouse, and Bernie Sanders introduced the Health and Location Data Protection Act, sweeping legislation that bans data brokers from selling some of the most sensitive data available about everyday Americans: their health and location data.\n\nIn May 2022, Senators Warren, Bill Cassidy, M.D., and Marco Rubio introduced the Protecting Military Service Members\u2019 Data Act of 2022 to protect the data of U.S. service members by preventing data brokers from selling lists of military personnel to adversarial nations including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.\n\nIn May 2022, Senator Warren led thirteen of her Senate colleagues in letters to two data brokers demanding answers regarding their collection and sale of the cellphone-based location data of people who visit abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood.\n\nIn December 2021, at a hearing of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, Senator Warren called on Congress and regulators to pass stronger antitrust laws, ban mergers involving huge companies, and encourage robust enforcement to protect the economy, consumers, workers, and data.\n\nIn March 2020, Senators Warren, Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) sent a letter to Ascension, the second largest health systems provider in the United States, regarding the company's information-sharing partnership with Google-also known as Project Nightingale-that provides Google with the health records of tens of millions of Americans.\n\nIn November 2019, following alarming reports of Google\u2019s efforts to obtain the health records of millions of Americans without their awareness or consent, Senators Warren, Blumenthal, and Cassidy sent a bipartisan letter to Google demanding answers to the serious questions and concerns raised by \u201cProject Nightingale.\u201d\n\n###\n\nNext Article Previous Article", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "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://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-sanders-wyden-whitehouse-renew-push-to-protect-americans-sensitive-data-from-greedy-brokers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6535558495670557, "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"}