President Joe Biden will issue an executive order that aims to limit the mass-sale of Americans’ personal data to “countries of concern” including Russia and China. The order specifically targets the bulk sale of geolocation, genomic, financial, biometric, health and other personally identifying information, Engadget reported.

During a briefing with reporters, a senior administration official said that the sale of such data to these countries poses a national security risk. “Our current policies and laws leave open access to vast amounts of American sensitive personal data,” the official said. “Buying data through data brokers is currently legal in the United States, and that reflects a gap in our national security toolkit that we are working to fill with this program.”

Through the White House described the step as “the most significant executive action any President has ever taken to protect Americans data security,” it’s unclear how exactly enforcement of the new policies will be handled within the Justice Department. A DoJ said the executive order would require due diligence from data brokers to vet who they are dealing with, similar to the way companies are expected to adhere to US sanctions.

The Verge reported President Joe Biden has issued an executive order authorizing the US attorney general “to prevent the large-scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to countries of concern.” According to the US Department of Justice today, those countries could include China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

The White House says it’s targeting data brokers, which it says collect more personal data than ever before — data that includes things like personal health and financial data. The scale can be staggering: in a recent example from a Consumer Reports study, 48,000 companies had sent Facebook data on a single user.

Several departments will be required to roll out new protections under the order. The White House writes that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will have to create rules to prevent countries of concern from exploiting personal data, though it’s not clear through what means the DOJ would accomplish this. The data would include that related to genomics, biometrics, personal health, finances, and “certain kinds of personal identifiers.” The DOJ would also be required to work with the Department of Homeland Security to set new security standards regarding data gathered through “investment, vendor, and employment relationships.”

NBC News reported President Biden will issue an executive order Wednesday intended to safeguard the personal data of American citizens from countries deemed hostile. 

The executive order centers on the business of selling people’s personal information, in which companies and so-called data brokers collect and trade data. The Biden Administration is worried that data brokers and other commercial entities will sell this information to “countries of concern- which have a track record of collecting and misusing data on Americans.”

In my opinion, this executive order is very likely going to make the data of Americans safer than it has been before. Data privacy is important, and no one should have to worry about certain countries collecting information on American citizens.