Thursday, February 29, 2024

US Takes Action Against Data Transfer to Nations Like China and Russia Over National Security Concerns

The current Biden administration seems to have a serious task at large and that includes controlling the transfer of American users’ data to nations they feel are ‘of concern’.

In case you didn’t know, those countries include the likes of China and Russia as mentioned by the White House yesterday.

The issue has been one of concern for quite some time now but not a lot has been done on this front in the past. But from what we’re seeing right now, the matter has picked up the pace and people want answers immediately regarding what to do next.

President Biden rolled out a new executive order that would set aside the right safeguards to disguise a lot of biometric and healthcare information belonging to citizens as it’s not only sensitive but private property. Moreover, it’s collected by a wide range of businesses located in the country.

Be it China, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, or Russia - all of the mentioned countries have been dubbed as serious threats and the US says it cannot afford data transfer like this due to high-security reasons. The information in question also includes details on geolocations and genomic endeavors that are collected by some tech firms and even offered for sale by legal workers to a huge number of data brokers.

This would make its way to scammers as well as intelligence firms present abroad.

The rules were rolled out on Wednesday and they’re said to come into play soon to offer greater protection. As mentioned by AG Merrick Garland, the duty right now is to bar nations that serve as serious threats to the US and make the most of American citizens’ information that’s very private and personal.

The leading members of the admin and Justice Dept added how the rules would stop bad actors present in certain countries from playing with free data flow and abusing it.

Data attained by firms situated in the US are a great resource for countries such as China and Russia which can make the most of such cyber campaigns and challenge any regimes in place.

The latest set of rules are yet to come into play and they won’t come into effect immediately. But from what we’re seeing so far, they’re set to undergo scrutiny so that the right stakeholders can weigh on it and curb it before getting out of hand.

But when it does come into effect, we see it stopping data transfer to certain places that are said to be of serious concern to America’s national security. The right measures against such actors would mean bigger punishments if rules get violated.

The selling of personal data to countries like China or Russia would be prevented outright. But security requirements need to be met, right before firms enter into any kind of investment agreement in such nations.

The executive order was generated last Wednesday and is part of a plan that continues to grow to prevent undermining of the country’s security. The goal is to focus on means through which foreign adversaries are utilizing investments to provide better access to American data and tech.

One of the biggest worries as we’ve seen in the past has been China and its respective allies. The US is very clear on where it stands with the Asian nation and how much evidence they have about American data getting into the hands of Chinese government officials.


Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

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