This week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., brought back the “Protecting Sensitive Personal Data Act.”
The bill will “expand the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS)’ oversight authority of transactions involving Americans’ sensitive personal data” and “would protect important personal information, such as genetic test results, health conditions, insurance applications, financial hardship data, security clearance information, geolocation data, private emails, data for generating government identification, and credit report information.”
Rubio first introduced the bill in November 2021 with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., co-sponsoring it. Warnock continues to back the proposal, serving as a co-sponsor again.
“Americans should be deeply concerned about foreign investments in U.S. companies that handle their personal information, which pose a risk of exposing personal data, like genetic testing results and private financial transactions, to harmful actors in China and elsewhere. We need to strengthen CFIUS’s oversight authority of these transactions to protect Americans and mitigate this serious national security threat,” said Rubio.
“We must do everything in our power to protect the personal data and information of our constituents and governmental agencies from foreign entities that may wish to exploit them. I’m glad to work with Senator Rubio to strengthen our defenses against these dangerous security breaches,” said Warnock.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.
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