CFPB to Propose Rules Limiting Activities of Data Brokers

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will propose rules this year to limit the activities of data brokers, including those that sell personal data to customers overseas.

The CFPB announced this plan in a Wednesday (Feb. 28) press release following the release of President Joe Biden’s executive order to protect Americans’ personal data from “countries of concern.”

The executive order encourages the CFPB to consider taking steps to protect that data from data brokers that illegally assemble and sell data that is extremely sensitive, such as that of U.S. military personnel, according to the CFPB press release.

“Today’s executive order is a reminder of the urgent need to protect the personal data of Americans,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in the release. “Corporate data brokers are assembling and selling extremely sensitive data on all of us, including U.S. military personnel, to foreign purchasers.

“The executive order calls on the CFPB to utilize its legal authorities to provide greater protections,” Chopra added. “This year, we will be proposing new rules to rein in these abuses that will safeguard families and our national security.”

These rules will be proposed by the CFPB under the authority granted to it by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which covers entities that assemble and sell consumer data, according to the release.

In Wednesday’s executive order, the White House instructed the attorney general to curb the “large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern” and establish protections for other activities that can give those countries access to data.

The executive order authorizes the Justice Department to block hostile countries from harvesting things like biometric identifiers and personal health and financial data.

The CFPB’s plans in response to the executive order follow another effort by the regulator to ensure that data brokers cannot engage in illegal collection and sharing of Americans’ data.

In a statement provided to PYMNTS in August, Chopra said: “Reports about monetization of sensitive information — everything from the financial details about members of the U.S. military to lists of specific people experiencing dementia — are particularly worrisome when data is powering ‘artificial intelligence’ and other automated decision-making about our lives.”