The Federal Trade Commission has sent a warning letter to Data Brokers about violating the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024. The FTC Press Release states, in part:
The Federal Trade Commission sent letters to 13 data brokers
warning them of their responsibility to comply with the Protecting Americans’
Data from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 (PADFAA).
PADFAA prohibits
data brokers from selling, releasing, disclosing, or providing access to
personally identifiable sensitive data about Americans to any foreign
adversary, which include North Korea, China, Russia, and Iran, or any entity
controlled by those countries. The law defines personally identifiable
sensitive data to include health, financial, genetic, biometric, geolocation,
and sexual behavior information as well as account or device log-in credentials
and government-issued identifiers such as Social Security, passport, or
driver’s license numbers.
“The FTC is committed to enforcing PADFAA and ensuring
companies are complying with its requirements,” said Christopher Mufarrige,
Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “These letters should send
a message to all data brokers to be aware of the law’s requirements and ensure
they are not engaging in practices that violate it.”
The letters note that the agency has identified instances in
which some of the
letter’s recipients have “offered solutions and insights involving the
status of an individual as a member of the Armed Forces. Such information is
subject to PADFAA’s requirements.”
The letters warn the companies to conduct a comprehensive
review of their business practices to ensure they comply with PADFAA, adding
that a violation of the act may result in an enforcement action by the FTC,
which could include civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation.
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