In a fun bleak imagining of future late-stage capitalism, President Joe Biden is issuing an executive order to limit the mass sale of Americans\u2019 personal data to \u201ccountries of concern,\u201d including Russia and China. The order specifically targets the bulk sale of geolocation, genomic, financial, biometric, health and other personally identifying information.<\/p>\n

Researchers and privacy advocates have long warned about the national security risks posed by the largely unregulated multibillion-dollar data broker industry. Last fall, researchers at Duke University reported that they could easily buy troves of personal and health data about US military personnel by posing as foreign agents. The loophole: This order will do nothing to slow the bulk sale of Americans\u2019 data to countries or companies not deemed to be a security risk.<\/p>\n