Sen. John Hawley, R-Mo., has proposed legislation that seeks to protect U.S. citizens’ personal data from hostile foreign nations that may pose security risks. The National Security and Personal Data Protection Act would prohibit the transmission of user data or encryption keys to foreign countries such as China and storage of information there, Hawley’s office said Monday.
Under the legislation, companies that seek to conduct business in the U.S. would not be allowed to collect more than the required data figure and should not utilize the gathered information for secondary purposes.
The bill would also require certain international companies to undergo a pre-approval process with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. for proposed merger transactions.
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s crime and terrorism subcommittee recently held a hearing to discuss China’s connection to the technology industry.
U.S. authorities are looking into the security of a social media video application, called TikTok, after lawmakers raised concerns that the Chinese government could obtain military images from the platform for weapons training use.