[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 847 Reported in House (RH)]
<DOC>
Union Calendar No. 225
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 847
[Report No. 117-305]
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
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Digital Privacy
Technologies Act''.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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;''.
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 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.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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.
Union Calendar No. 225
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 847
[Report No. 117-305]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support research on privacy enhancing technologies and promote
responsible data use, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
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