Congress has been attempting to crack down on data brokers, and they are fighting back. In late March, the House voted unanimously to ban the sale of Americans' data to foreign rivals. And a data-collecting provision is included in the bill reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the contentious act that authorises the National Security Agency, which is set to expire later this month.
Negotiations over FISA's reauthorization became so heated that House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled the bill from consideration in February. The most contentious issue was an amendment proposed by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) that would bar data brokers from selling customer data to law enforcement and require a warrant to access Americans' information, according to Politico's Influence newsletter in February.
National security hawks in Congress and local law enforcement groups joined forces to oppose the amendment, with the National Sheriffs' Association alleging in a letter to Congress that it would "kneecap law enforcement".
"On House amendments, the Sheriffs of this great country don't usually keep score. But on this one, we will keep score and know who our friends are by their votes against Congressman Davidson's amendment, which further erodes the rule of law in our country and empowers the cartels," the letter stated.
With FISA about to expire at the end of the month, Congress will undoubtedly bring it up again. Some legislators have indicated that they are unlikely to support the bill unless privacy updates are included. "We must have these amendments. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), leader of the House Judiciary Committee, told Politico in February that "there's no way we're not going to have them.”
Data brokers also seem to be entering the fight. Politico's Influence newsletter revealed that early this year, when the amendment was being discussed in the House, Relx, the parent company of data analytics company LexisNexis, based in the United Kingdom, hired the lobbying firm Venable.
Recently, criticism of other Relx subsidiaries' data collecting and distribution policies has also surfaced. The New York Times revealed in March that a number of automakers were providing LexisNexis Risk Solutions with driving records of their clients, who then sold the data to insurance firms.