New Rules Proposed by U.S. Justice Department

By Sarah N. Lynch and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On Monday, the U.S. Justice Department proposed new regulations designed to protect federal government data and Americans' bulk personal data from foreign adversaries, including China, Iran, and Russia. This initiative introduces limits on specific business transactions aimed at preventing these countries from exploiting American financial, genomic, and health data for cyberattacks, espionage, and blackmail.

The proposal, first previewed in March, follows an executive order issued earlier this year by President Joe Biden. Besides the primary countries of concern, the regulations will also extend to Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea.

The U.S. government has been working to control the outflow of American personal data to China, functioning alongside a broader, long-term confrontation over trade and technology.

In 2018, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) blocked China’s Ant Financial from acquiring U.S. money transfer firm MoneyGram International due to fears about data security and privacy.

Under the new proposal, transactions involving data brokers who plan to share information with "countries of concern" will be prohibited, as will the transfer of data related to U.S. government personnel.
Notably, this proposal specifies the types and volumes of data that are restricted, including genomic data of over 100 Americans and personal health or financial data concerning more than 10,000 individuals. It also prohibits the sharing of precise geolocation data involving over 1,000 U.S. devices.

Compliance with these new rules will be enforceable through both criminal and civil penalties. U.S. officials indicated that Chinese applications, particularly TikTok, might violate this proposal if they transfer sensitive information from U.S. users to their Chinese parent company.