Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act

Bill: 117-hr-847
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI-11]
Introduced: 2021-02-04
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications
Subjects: Computer security and identity theft

Computers and information technology

Congressional oversight

Public-private cooperation

Research administration and funding

Research and development

Right of privacy

Technology assessment
Latest action: action_date: 2022-05-12
text: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-02-04
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act</b></p> <p>This bill directs the National Science Foundation to support merit-reviewed and competitively awarded research on privacy enhancing technologies. The award of grants for basic research on innovative approaches to the structure of computer and network hardware and software that are aimed at enhancing computer security may include privacy enhancing technologies and confidentiality. The bill also requires the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program to submit to Congress a report on the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies and the development of specified voluntary resources. </p>

action_date: 2022-05-03
action_desc: Reported to House
text: <p><b>Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act</b></p> <p>This bill directs the National Science Foundation to support merit-reviewed and competitively awarded research on privacy enhancing technologies. </p> <p>The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD) must coordinate with appropriate agencies to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. The bill also requires NITRD to submit to Congress a report on the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies and the development of specified voluntary resources. </p>

action_date: 2022-05-11
action_desc: Passed House
text: <p><b>Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act</b></p> <p>This bill directs the National Science Foundation to support merit-reviewed and competitively awarded research on privacy enhancing technologies. </p> <p>The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD) must coordinate with appropriate agencies to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. The bill also requires NITRD to submit to Congress a report on the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies and the development of specified voluntary resources. </p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 847 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 4, 2021 Ms. Stevens (for herself and Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio ) introduced the following 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act . 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Personal data The term personal data means information that identifies, is linked to, or is reasonably linkable to, an individual or a consumer 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 enhancing the privacy and confidentiality of an individual’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. 3. National Science Foundation support of research on privacy enhancing technology The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as determined 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, 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 individual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, or aggregating data; (3) fundamental research on technologies that promote data minimization principles in data collection, sharing, and analytics; and (4) research awards on privacy enhancing technologies coordinated with other relevant Federal agencies and programs. 4. Integration into the computer and network security program Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act ( 15 U.S.C. 7403(a)(1)(D) ) is amended to read as follows: (D) privacy enhancing technologies and confidentiality; . 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 Networking and Information Technology Research and Development 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 Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach to— (1) receive input from private, public, and academic 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 enhancing technologies; and (2) develop ongoing public and private sector engagement to create and disseminate voluntary, consensus-based resources to increase the integration of privacy enhancing technologies in data collection, sharing, and analytics by the public and private sectors. 6. Report on research and standards development Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall, in coordination with the Director of the National Science Foundation and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, a report containing— (1) the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies; (2) the progress of the development of voluntary resources described under section 5(b)(2); and (3) any policy recommendations of the Directors that could facilitate and improve communication and coordination between the private sector, the National Science Foundation, and relevant Federal agencies through the implementation of privacy enhancing technologies.

tv_txt: IB 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 847 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AN ACT To support research on privacy enhancing technologies and promote responsible data use, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act . 2. Definition of privacy enhancing technology In this Act, the term privacy enhancing technology — (1) means any software or hardware solution, technical process, or other technological means of mitigating individuals’ privacy risks arising from data processing by enhancing predictability, manageability, disassociability, and confidentiality; and (2) may include— (A) cryptographic techniques for facilitating computation or analysis on data while mitigating privacy risks; (B) techniques for publicly sharing data without enabling inferences to be made about specific individuals; (C) techniques for giving individuals’ control over the dissemination, sharing, and use of their data; (D) techniques for generating synthetic data; and (E) any other technology or approach that reduces the risk of re-identification, including when combined with other information. 3. National Science Foundation support of research on privacy enhancing technology The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as determined 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, or obfuscation to mitigate individuals’ privacy risks in data sets while maintaining fairness, accuracy, and efficiency; (2) fundamental research on algorithms and other similar mathematical tools used to protect individual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, analyzing, or aggregating data; (3) fundamental research on technologies that promote data minimization in data collection, sharing, and analytics that takes into account the trade-offs between the data minimization goals and the informational goals of data collection; (4) research awards on privacy enhancing technologies coordinated with other relevant Federal agencies and programs; (5) supporting education and workforce training research and development activities, including re-training and upskilling of the existing workforce, to grow the number of privacy enhancing technology researchers and practitioners; (6) multidisciplinary socio-technical research that fosters broader understanding of privacy preferences, requirements, and human behavior to inform the design and adoption of effective privacy solutions; (7) development of freely available privacy enhancing technology software libraries, platforms, and applications; and (8) fundamental research on techniques that may undermine the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, the limitations of the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, and the trade-offs between privacy and utility required for their deployment. 4. Integration into the computer and network security program Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act ( 15 U.S.C. 7403(a)(1)(D) ) is amended to read as follows: (D) privacy and confidentiality, including privacy enhancing technologies; . 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 Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall coordinate with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Trade Commission, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. (b) Outreach The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach to— (1) receive input from private, public, and academic stakeholders on the development of privacy enhancing technologies; and (2) facilitate and support ongoing public and private sector engagement to inform the development and dissemination of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards, guidelines, methodologies, procedures, and processes to cost-effectively increase the integration of privacy enhancing technologies in data collection, sharing, and analytics performed by the public and private sectors. 6. Report on privacy enhancing technology research Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall, in coordination with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, a report containing— (1) the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies; (2) the progress of the development of voluntary resources described under section 5(b)(2); and (3) any policy recommendations that could facilitate and improve communication and coordination between the private sector and relevant Federal agencies for the implementation and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. 7. Protecting personal identifying information Any personal identifying information collected or stored through the activities authorized in this Act shall be done in accordance with section 690 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (relating to the protection of human subjects), or any successor regulation.

Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 2022. Cheryl L. Johnson, Clerk.

tv_txt: 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act . 2. Definition of privacy enhancing technology In this Act, the term privacy enhancing technology — (1) means any software or hardware solution, technical process, or other technological means of mitigating individuals’ privacy risks arising from data processing by enhancing predictability, manageability, disassociability, and confidentiality; and (2) may include— (A) cryptographic techniques for facilitating computation or analysis on data while mitigating privacy risks; (B) techniques for publicly sharing data without enabling inferences to be made about specific individuals; (C) techniques for giving individuals’ control over the dissemination, sharing, and use of their data; (D) techniques for generating synthetic data; and (E) any other technology or approach that reduces the risk of re-identification, including when combined with other information. 3. National Science Foundation support of research on privacy enhancing technology The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as determined 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, or obfuscation to mitigate individuals’ privacy risks in data sets while maintaining fairness, accuracy, and efficiency; (2) fundamental research on algorithms and other similar mathematical tools used to protect individual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, analyzing, or aggregating data; (3) fundamental research on technologies that promote data minimization in data collection, sharing, and analytics that takes into account the trade-offs between the data minimization goals and the informational goals of data collection; (4) research awards on privacy enhancing technologies coordinated with other relevant Federal agencies and programs; (5) supporting education and workforce training research and development activities, including re-training and upskilling of the existing workforce, to grow the number of privacy enhancing technology researchers and practitioners; (6) multidisciplinary socio-technical research that fosters broader understanding of privacy preferences, requirements, and human behavior to inform the design and adoption of effective privacy solutions; (7) development of freely available privacy enhancing technology software libraries, platforms, and applications; and (8) fundamental research on techniques that may undermine the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, the limitations of the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, and the trade-offs between privacy and utility required for their deployment. 4. Integration into the computer and network security program Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act ( 15 U.S.C. 7403(a)(1)(D) ) is amended to read as follows: (D) privacy and confidentiality, including privacy enhancing technologies; . 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 Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall coordinate with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Trade Commission, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. (b) Outreach The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach to— (1) receive input from private, public, and academic stakeholders on the development of privacy enhancing technologies; and (2) facilitate and support ongoing public and private sector engagement to inform the development and dissemination of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards, guidelines, methodologies, procedures, and processes to cost-effectively increase the integration of privacy enhancing technologies in data collection, sharing, and analytics performed by the public and private sectors. 6. Report on privacy enhancing technology research Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall, in coordination with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, a report containing— (1) the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies; (2) the progress of the development of voluntary resources described under section 5(b)(2); and (3) any policy recommendations that could facilitate and improve communication and coordination between the private sector and relevant Federal agencies for the implementation and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. 7. Protecting personal identifying information Any personal identifying information collected or stored through the activities authorized in this Act shall be done in accordance with section 690 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (relating to the protection of human subjects), or any successor regulation.

Passed the House of Representatives May 11, 2022. Cheryl L. Johnson, Clerk.

tv_txt: IB Union Calendar No. 225 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 847 [Report No. 117–305] IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 4, 2021 Ms. Stevens (for herself and Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology May 3, 2022 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 4, 2021 A BILL To support research on privacy enhancing technologies and promote responsible data use, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act . 2. Definition of privacy enhancing technology In this Act, the term privacy enhancing technology — (1) means any software or hardware solution, technical process, or other technological means of mitigating individuals’ privacy risks arising from data processing by enhancing predictability, manageability, disassociability, and confidentiality; and (2) may include— (A) cryptographic techniques for facilitating computation or analysis on data while mitigating privacy risks; (B) techniques for publicly sharing data without enabling inferences to be made about specific individuals; (C) techniques for giving individuals’ control over the dissemination, sharing, and use of their data; (D) techniques for generating synthetic data; and (E) any other technology or approach that reduces the risk of re-identification, including when combined with other information. 3. National Science Foundation support of research on privacy enhancing technology The Director of the National Science Foundation, in consultation with other relevant Federal agencies (as determined 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, or obfuscation to mitigate individuals’ privacy risks in data sets while maintaining fairness, accuracy, and efficiency; (2) fundamental research on algorithms and other similar mathematical tools used to protect individual privacy when collecting, storing, sharing, analyzing, or aggregating data; (3) fundamental research on technologies that promote data minimization in data collection, sharing, and analytics that takes into account the trade-offs between the data minimization goals and the informational goals of data collection; (4) research awards on privacy enhancing technologies coordinated with other relevant Federal agencies and programs; (5) supporting education and workforce training research and development activities, including re-training and upskilling of the existing workforce, to grow the number of privacy enhancing technology researchers and practitioners; (6) multidisciplinary socio-technical research that fosters broader understanding of privacy preferences, requirements, and human behavior to inform the design and adoption of effective privacy solutions; (7) development of freely available privacy enhancing technology software libraries, platforms, and applications; and (8) fundamental research on techniques that may undermine the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, the limitations of the protections provided by privacy enhancing technologies, and the trade-offs between privacy and utility required for their deployment. 4. Integration into the computer and network security program Subparagraph (D) of section 4(a)(1) of the Cyber Security Research and Development Act ( 15 U.S.C. 7403(a)(1)(D) ) is amended to read as follows: (D) privacy and confidentiality, including privacy enhancing technologies; . 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 Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall coordinate with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Trade Commission, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, to accelerate the development, deployment, and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. (b) Outreach The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach to— (1) receive input from private, public, and academic stakeholders on the development of privacy enhancing technologies; and (2) facilitate and support ongoing public and private sector engagement to inform the development and dissemination of voluntary, consensus-based technical standards, guidelines, methodologies, procedures, and processes to cost-effectively increase the integration of privacy enhancing technologies in data collection, sharing, and analytics performed by the public and private sectors. 6. Report on privacy enhancing technology research Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, acting through the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program, shall, in coordination with the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the heads of other Federal agencies, as appropriate, submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, a report containing— (1) the progress of research on privacy enhancing technologies; (2) the progress of the development of voluntary resources described under section 5(b)(2); and (3) any policy recommendations that could facilitate and improve communication and coordination between the private sector and relevant Federal agencies for the implementation and adoption of privacy enhancing technologies. 7. Protecting personal identifying information Any personal identifying information collected or stored through the activities authorized in this Act shall be done in accordance with section 690 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (relating to the protection of human subjects), or any successor regulation.

May 3, 2022 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed