[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 191 (Monday, November 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S7563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4121. Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mrs. Fischer) submitted an 
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3867 submitted by Mr. 
Reed and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 4350, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2022 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. PROMOTING DIGITAL PRIVACY TECHNOLOGIES.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (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.
       (b) 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.
       (c) 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;''.
       (d) Coordination With the National Institute of Standards 
     and Technology and Other Stakeholders.--
       (1) 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.
       (2) Outreach.--The Director of the National Institute of 
     Standards and Technology shall conduct outreach to--
       (A) 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
       (B) 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.
       (e) 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, and the Committee on Science, 
     Space, and Technology 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 subsection (d)(2)(B); 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.
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