The U.S. Division of Justice (DoJ) has issued a last rule finishing up Government Order (EO) 14117, which prevents mass switch of residents’ private information to international locations of concern comparable to China (together with Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
“This last rule is an important step ahead in addressing the extraordinary nationwide safety risk posed of our adversaries exploiting Individuals’ most delicate private information,” mentioned Assistant Lawyer Common Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Division’s Nationwide Safety Division.
“This highly effective new national-security program is designed to make sure that Individuals’ private information is not permitted to be bought to hostile overseas powers, whether or not by outright buy or different means of economic entry.”
Again in February 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an govt order to deal with the nationwide danger posed by unauthorized entry to Individuals’ delicate private and government-related information for malicious actions, comparable to espionage, affect, kinetic, or cyber operations.
Moreover, the order famous that the international locations of concern can leverage their entry to bulk information to develop or refine synthetic intelligence and different superior applied sciences, in addition to buy such info from industrial information brokers and different firms.
“Nations of concern and lined individuals can even exploit this information to gather info on activists, teachers, journalists, dissidents, political opponents, or members of nongovernmental organizations or marginalized communities to intimidate them; curb political opposition; restrict freedoms of expression, peaceable meeting, or affiliation; or allow different types of suppression of civil liberties,” the DoJ mentioned.
The rule issued by the DoJ is anticipated to turn into efficient in 90 days. It identifies sure lessons of prohibited, restricted, and exempt transactions; units bulk thresholds for triggering the rule’s prohibitions and restrictions on lined information transactions involving bulk delicate private information; and establishes enforcement mechanisms comparable to civil and prison penalties.
This covers information spanning six classes: private identifiers (e.g., Social Safety numbers, driver’s license and many others.), exact geolocation information, biometric identifiers, human ‘omic (genomic, epigenomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic) information, private well being information, and private monetary information.
Nevertheless, it bears noting that the rule neither imposes information localization necessities, nor does it prohibit U.S. residents from conducting medical, scientific, or different analysis in international locations of concern.
“The ultimate rule additionally doesn’t broadly prohibit U.S. individuals from partaking in industrial transactions, together with exchanging monetary and different information as a part of the sale of economic items and providers with international locations of concern or lined individuals, or impose measures aimed toward a broader decoupling of the substantial client, financial, scientific, and commerce relationships that the US has with different international locations,” the DoJ mentioned.