Nine House Republicans on Wednesday urged the Biden-Harris administration to support legislation that would end the “warrantless exploitation” of “data broker surveillance” in the wake of a hack that exposed the personal records of 2.7 billion people.
A member of the hacking group USDoD claimed to have released the personal records of 2.7 billion people, which were reportedly stolen from National Public Data, a major data broker. The records include highly sensitive information, such as full names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and phone numbers.
The nine House Republicans urged President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to back the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, which would block the “unconscionable practice of funneling taxpayers’ money to data brokers.”
In April, the House passed the legislation despite the opposition of the Biden White House.
WATCH: Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) Discusses Data Broker Loophole
U.S. House of Representatives
Lawmakers have told Breitbart News that intelligence and law enforcement’s purchasing of Americans’ data is a run around the Fourth Amendment.
“The privacy of our constituents, as citizens and consumers, must be protected,” the House conservatives wrote.
The House Republicans contended that the hack of the data broker database could be used to target Americans:
We are especially concerned that this data could enable malicious actors to build a sophisticated dossier on every American that can cross-reference and validate other sensitive personal data obtained from the largely unregulated data broker industry, as well as other past and future data breaches — such as the recent theft of genetic data and family tree history from 23andMe and the hacking of government employees’ security clearance records retained by the Office of Personnel Management. Moreover, this data breach is alleged to have occurred in April 2024, which means the hackers had four months to mine, sell, and otherwise exploit the data in the shadows before the American public was broadly alerted to the theft. This is unacceptable.
A YouGov poll that FreedomWorks and Demand Progress commissioned found that 80 percent of Americans back closing the data broker loophole, while only ten percent oppose it.
Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Warren Davidson (R-OH) — who sponsored the bill — Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Randy Weber (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Barry Moore (R-AL), and Ben Cline (R-VA) signed onto the letter.
The House Republicans urged the Biden-Harris administration to end the data broker loophole.
“We ask for a swift and comprehensive response from your administration, including acknowledgement of the severe consequences of this breach for our national security — and for the executive branch to finally join us, hundreds of our colleagues, and hundreds of millions of Americans in demanding an end to the federal government’s subsidizing and warrantless exploitation of data broker surveillance,” the lawmakers concluded.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.