Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 847 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 12, 2022 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To support research on privacy enhancing technologies and promote responsible data use, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 HR 847 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Digital Pri- 2 vacy Technologies Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF PRIVACY ENHANCING TECH- 4 NOLOGY. 5 In this Act, the term ‘‘privacy enhancing tech- 6 nology’’— 7 (1) means any software or hardware solution, 8 technical process, or other technological means of 9 mitigating individuals’ privacy risks arising from 10 data processing by enhancing predictability, manage- 11 ability, disassociability, and confidentiality; and 12 (2) may include— 13 (A) cryptographic techniques for facili- 14 tating computation or analysis on data while 15 mitigating privacy risks; 16 (B) techniques for publicly sharing data 17 without enabling inferences to be made about 18 specific individuals; 19 (C) techniques for giving individuals’ con- 20 trol over the dissemination, sharing, and use of 21 their data; 22 (D) techniques for generating synthetic 23 data; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 HR 847 RFS (E) any other technology or approach that 1 reduces the risk of re-identification, including 2 when combined with other information. 3 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPORT OF RE- 4 SEARCH ON PRIVACY ENHANCING TECH- 5 NOLOGY. 6 The Director of the National Science Foundation, in 7 consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as de- 8 termined by the Director), shall support merit-reviewed 9 and competitively awarded research on privacy enhancing 10 technologies, which may include— 11 (1) fundamental research on technologies for 12 de-identification, pseudonymization, anonymization, 13 or obfuscation to mitigate individuals’ privacy risks 14 in data sets while maintaining fairness, accuracy, 15 and efficiency; 16 (2) fundamental research on algorithms and 17 other similar mathematical tools used to protect in- 18 dividual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, 19 analyzing, or aggregating data; 20 (3) fundamental research on technologies that 21 promote data minimization in data collection, shar- 22 ing, and analytics that takes into account the trade- 23 offs between the data minimization goals and the in- 24 formational goals of data collection; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 HR 847 RFS (4) research awards on privacy enhancing tech- 1 nologies coordinated with other relevant Federal 2 agencies and programs; 3 (5) supporting education and workforce training 4 research and development activities, including re- 5 training and upskilling of the existing workforce, to 6 grow the number of privacy enhancing technology 7 researchers and practitioners; 8 (6) multidisciplinary socio-technical research 9 that fosters broader understanding of privacy pref- 10 erences, requirements, and human behavior to in- 11 form the design and adoption of effective privacy so- 12 lutions; 13 (7) development of freely available privacy en- 14 hancing technology software libraries, platforms, and 15 applications; and 16 (8) fundamental research on techniques that 17 may undermine the protections provided by privacy 18 enhancing technologies, the limitations of the protec- 19 tions provided by privacy enhancing technologies, 20 and the trade-offs between privacy and utility re- 21 quired for their deployment. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 HR 847 RFS SEC. 4. INTEGRATION INTO THE COMPUTER AND NETWORK 1 SECURITY PROGRAM. 2 Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Se- 3 curity Research and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 4 7403(a)(1)(D)) is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(D) privacy and confidentiality, including 6 privacy enhancing technologies;’’. 7 SEC. 5. COORDINATION WITH THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 8 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER 9 STAKEHOLDERS. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 11 Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Net- 12 working and Information Technology Research and Devel- 13 opment Program, shall coordinate with the Director of the 14 National Science Foundation, the Director of the National 15 Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Trade 16 Commission, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as 17 appropriate, to accelerate the development, deployment, 18 and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. 19 (b) OUTREACH.—The Director of the National Insti- 20 tute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach 21 to— 22 (1) receive input from private, public, and aca- 23 demic stakeholders on the development of privacy 24 enhancing technologies; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 HR 847 RFS (2) facilitate and support ongoing public and 1 private sector engagement to inform the development 2 and dissemination of voluntary, consensus-based 3 technical standards, guidelines, methodologies, pro- 4 cedures, and processes to cost-effectively increase the 5 integration of privacy enhancing technologies in data 6 collection, sharing, and analytics performed by the 7 public and private sectors. 8 SEC. 6. REPORT ON PRIVACY ENHANCING TECHNOLOGY 9 RESEARCH. 10 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 11 of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- 12 nology Policy, acting through the Networking and Infor- 13 mation Technology Research and Development Program, 14 shall, in coordination with the Director of the National 15 Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute 16 of Standards and Technology, and the heads of other Fed- 17 eral agencies, as appropriate, submit to the Committee on 18 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 19 Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Re- 20 lated Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the 21 Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 22 of the House of Representatives, and the Subcommittee 23 on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 HR 847 RFS the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives, a report containing— 2 (1) the progress of research on privacy enhanc- 3 ing technologies; 4 (2) the progress of the development of vol- 5 untary resources described under section 5(b)(2); 6 and 7 (3) any policy recommendations that could fa- 8 cilitate and improve communication and coordination 9 between the private sector and relevant Federal 10 agencies for the implementation and adoption of pri- 11 vacy enhancing technologies. 12 SEC. 7. PROTECTING PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMA- 13 TION. 14 Any personal identifying information collected or 15 stored through the activities authorized in this Act shall 16 be done in accordance with section 690 of title 45, Code 17 of Federal Regulations (relating to the protection of 18 human subjects), or any successor regulation. 19 Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 2022. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:42 May 12, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H847.RFS H847 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS