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Biden Executive Order Bans Sale of US Data to China, Russia. Good Luck

The White House issued an executive order on Wednesday that aims to prevent the sale of Americans' data to “countries of concern,” including China and Russia. Its effectiveness may vary.

US president Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at preventing a handful of countries, including China, North Korea, and Russia, from purchasing sensitive information about Americans through commercial data brokers in the United States. Administration officials say categories of sensitive data, including personal identifiers, precise location information, and biometrics are being amassed by what the White House is calling “countries of concern,” vital tools for waging cyberattacks, espionage, and blackmail operations against the US. (For more information on the US government’s efforts to secretly purchase domestic phone data for intelligence and military purposes, availing itself of what one technology consultant calls “the largest information-gathering enterprise ever conceived by man,” read an excerpt from Byron Tou’s new book, Means of Control.)

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