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| EFE |
President Joe Biden is set to sign an executive order on Wednesday to protect citizens' data from countries like Cuba and Venezuela, according to senior U.S. officials.
The executive order will target concerning nations, including China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, detailed the sources during a telephonic press briefing.
According to these officials, U.S. intelligence believes that certain countries view Americans' personal data as a strategic resource and are increasingly accessing it through intermediaries.
One of the goals of these nations is to better understand the behavior of the American population, including their consumption habits, to potentially use the information against Washington.
Moreover, the data can be stolen to subject U.S. citizens to scams, blackmail, and other privacy violations, as detailed by the officials.
Some of the victims may be members of the U.S. Armed Forces or officials of its government, posing an even greater risk to Washington.
According to the White House, the executive order Biden will sign is the most significant measure taken by a president in the history of the United States to protect Americans' data.
Specifically, the executive order will target companies that collect data from Americans, and they will now be prohibited from selling it to countries designated as concerning nations.
The transfer of genomic information, biometric data, personal health data, geolocation data, financial data, and other types of personal information will be explicitly prohibited.
However, the executive order will include exceptions for multinational companies that need to process, for example, payrolls or conduct financial transactions involving multiple countries, the officials detailed.