118 HR 1153 RH: Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act U.S. House of Representatives 2023-05-16 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IBUnion Calendar No. 43118th CONGRESS1st SessionH. R. 1153[Report No. 118–63]IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFebruary 24, 2023Mr. McCaul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign AffairsMay 16, 2023Additional sponsor: Mr. Smith of New JerseyMay 16, 2023Reported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printedA BILLTo provide a clarification of non-applicability for regulation and prohibition relating to sensitive personal data under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title and table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries Act or DATA Act.(b)

Table of contents

The table of contents for this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.Sec. 2. Findings.Sec. 3. Authorization of appropriations.Sec. 4. Severability.Sec. 5. Definitions.Title I—Clarification of non-applicability for regulation and prohibition relating to sensitive personal data under International Emergency Economic Powers ActSec. 101. Clarification.Sec. 102. Directive.Title II—Imposition of sanctions on certain transactions relating to connected software applicationsSec. 201. Imposition of sanctions.Sec. 202. Sanction described.Sec. 203. Sunset.Title III—Specific determinations with respect to the imposition of sanctionsSec. 301. Determination relating to Bytedance, Ltd., TikTok, and related entities.Sec. 302. Requests by appropriate congressional committees.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following:(1)On December 2, 2022, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, stated, We … do have national security concerns about the app [TikTok]. Its parent company is controlled by the Chinese government. And it gives them the potential to leverage the app in ways that I think should concern us … One, it gives them the ability to control the recommendation algorithm which allows them to manipulate content and if they want to, to use it for influence operations which are a lot more worrisome in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party than whether or not you're steering somebody as an influencer to one product or another. They also have the ability to collect data through it on users which can be used for traditional espionage operations, for example. They also have the ability on it to get access, they have essentially access to the software to devices. So you're talking about millions of devices and that gives them the ability to engage in different kinds of malicious cyber activity through that. And so all of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn't share our values and that has a mission that's very much at odds with what's in the best interest of the United States that that should concern us..(2)On December 3, 2022, the Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, It is extraordinary the degree to which China, in particular, but they're not the only ones, obviously, are developing just frameworks for collecting foreign data and pulling it in and their capacity to then turn that around and use it to target audiences for information campaigns or for other things, but also to have it for the future so that they can use it for a variety of means that they’re interested in.. (3)On December 16, 2022, the Director of Central Intelligence, Bill Burns, stated, I think it's a genuine concern … for the U.S. government, in the sense that, because the parent company of TikTok is a Chinese company, the Chinese government is able to insist upon extracting the private data of a lot of TikTok users in this country, and also to shape the content of what goes on to TikTok as well to suit the interests of the Chinese leadership … What I would underscore, though, is that it's genuinely troubling to see what the Chinese government could do to manipulate TikTok..(4)On December 23, 2022, both chambers of Congress passed a bipartisan spending bill that included a ban on using TikTok from government devices.

3.

Authorization of appropriations

No additional amounts are authorized to be made available to carry out this Act.

4.

Severability

If any provision of this Act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this section that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

5.

Definitions

In this Act:(1)

Agency or instrumentality of a foreign state

The term agency or instrumentality of a foreign state has the meaning given such term under section 1603(b) of title 28, United States Code.(2)

Appropriate congressional committees

The term appropriate congressional committees means—(A)the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and(B)the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.(3)

China

The term China means—(A)when used in the geographic sense, the country of the People’s Republic of China; and(B)otherwise, the Government of the country of the People’s Republic of China, including any entity acting on behalf of, or the benefit of—(i)the country of the People’s Republic of China; or(ii)the Government of the country of the People’s Republic of China.(4)

Connected software application

The term connected software application has the meaning given such term in Executive Order 14034 (86 Fed. Reg. 31423; relating to protecting Americans' sensitive data from foreign adversaries).(5)

Election interference in or against a foreign country that is a treaty ally of the united states or a democratic or emerging democratic partner of the United States

The term election interference in or against a foreign country that is a treaty ally of the United States or a democratic or emerging democratic partner of the United States means actions to engage in, directly or indirectly, activities originating from, or directed by, persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the territory of a treaty ally of the United States or a democratic or emerging democratic partner of the United States that have the purpose or effect of tampering with, altering, unlawfully accessing, or causing a misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions.(6)

Election interference in or against the United States

The term election interference in or against the United States includes actions to engage in, directly or indirectly, activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States that—(A)have the purpose or effect of tampering with, altering, unlawfully accessing, or causing a misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of undermining election processes or institutions; (B)deny access, block, degrade, or alter election and campaign infrastructure, or related systems or data related to political parties, candidates in elections for public office, the administration of elections for public office, or any public election activity; or(C)consist of the making of contributions or donations, or any other activity prohibited under section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121), with the purpose or effect of undermining election processes or institutions.(7)

Foreign person

The term foreign person—(A)means a person that is not a United States person; and(B)includes a nonresident alien individual, foreign corporation, foreign partnership, foreign trust, foreign estate.(8)

Knowingly

The term knowingly, with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means that a person has actual knowledge, or should have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result.(9)

Sensitive personal data

The term sensitive personal data has the meaning given such term in section 7.2 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation).(10)

Treaty ally of the United States

The term treaty ally of the United States means a foreign country that is a party to any of the following: (A)The North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington, April 4, 1949.(B)The Security Treaty Between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States of America, signed at San Francisco, September 1, 1951.(C)The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines, signed at Washington, August 30, 1951.(D)The Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, signed at Manilla, September 8, 1954.(E)The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security Between the United States of America and Japan, signed at Washington, January 19, 1960.(F)The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea, signed at Washington, October 1, 1953.(11)

United States person

The term United States person means—(A)a United States citizen;(B)a permanent resident alien;(C)an entity organized under the laws of the United States (including foreign branches); or(D)any person in the United States.

May 16, 2023 Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed