I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 847 
To support research on privacy enhancing technologies and promote 
responsible data use, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 4, 2021 
Ms. STEVENS (for herself and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology 
A BILL 
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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Digital Pri-
vacy Technologies Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) PERSONAL
DATA.—The term ‘‘personal 
data’’ means information that identifies, is linked to, 
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or is reasonably linkable to, an individual or a con-
sumer device, including derived data. 
(2) PRIVACY
ENHANCING
TECHNOLOGY.—The 
term ‘‘privacy enhancing technology’’— 
(A) means any software solution, technical 
processes, or other technological means of en-
hancing the privacy and confidentiality of an in-
dividual’s personal data in data or sets of data; 
and 
(B) 
includes 
anonymization 
and 
pseudonymization techniques, filtering tools, 
anti-tracking technology, differential privacy 
tools, synthetic data, and secure multi-party 
computation. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION SUPPORT OF RE-
SEARCH ON PRIVACY ENHANCING TECH-
NOLOGY. 
The Director of the National Science Foundation, in 
consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as de-
termined by the Director), shall support merit-reviewed 
and competitively awarded research on privacy enhancing 
technologies, which may include— 
(1) fundamental research on technologies for 
de-identification, pseudonymization, anonymization, 
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or obfuscation of personal data in data sets while 
maintaining fairness, accuracy, and efficiency; 
(2) fundamental research on algorithms and 
other similar mathematical tools used to protect in-
dividual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, or 
aggregating data; 
(3) fundamental research on technologies that 
promote data minimization principles in data collec-
tion, sharing, and analytics; and 
(4) research awards on privacy enhancing tech-
nologies coordinated with other relevant Federal 
agencies and programs. 
SEC. 4. INTEGRATION INTO THE COMPUTER AND NETWORK 
SECURITY PROGRAM. 
Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Se-
curity Research and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 
7403(a)(1)(D)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(D) privacy enhancing technologies and 
confidentiality;’’. 
SEC. 5. COORDINATION WITH THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER 
STAKEHOLDERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Net-
working and Information Technology Research and Devel-
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opment Program, shall coordinate with the Director of the 
National Science Foundation, the Director of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Federal 
Trade Commission to accelerate the development and use 
of privacy enhancing technologies. 
(b) OUTREACH.—The Director of the National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach 
to— 
(1) receive input from private, public, and aca-
demic stakeholders, including the National Institutes 
of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, for the purpose of facilitating public 
health research, on the development of privacy en-
hancing technologies; and 
(2) develop ongoing public and private sector 
engagement to create and disseminate voluntary, 
consensus-based resources to increase the integra-
tion of privacy enhancing technologies in data collec-
tion, sharing, and analytics by the public and private 
sectors. 
SEC. 6. REPORT ON RESEARCH AND STANDARDS DEVELOP-
MENT. 
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Tech-
nology Policy, acting through the Networking and Infor-
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