Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, has blocked an effort to pass legislation that would have extended data privacy protections for federal lawmakers and public officials to everyone in the United States. On Monday night, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, asked the U.S. Senate for unanimous consent from his fellow senators to pass his bill. Wyden’s legislation would have taken provisions, which received bipartisan support, designed to protect government officials, lawmakers, and their families from having their personal information sold or traded by data brokers. It would have applied those same protections to every American and person living in the United States.
Wyden stated on the Senate floor that members of Congress should not receive special treatment. He said their constituents deserve protection from violence, stalking, and other criminal threats. He added that protecting everyone is the most effective way to protect U.S. military and intelligence personnel, including undercover officers.
Senator Cruz was the sole senator to object. He claimed without evidence that Wyden’s bill could disrupt law enforcement efforts, such as knowing where sexual predators are living.
Data brokers are part of a worldwide multibillion-dollar industry. These companies profit from collecting and selling access to huge amounts of personal, financial, and detailed location information from Americans. This data is often collected from phones and other internet-connected devices. The information is sold to various entities, including governments, which can acquire it without a warrant because it is commercially available.
The collection of these large banks of data carries significant risks, including security lapses and data breaches. Information purchased from data brokers has been used to reveal private details about individuals. In recent cases linked to the murders of two Minnesota state lawmakers, the alleged killer obtained their home addresses from data brokers.
Cruz also objected to a second piece of legislation introduced by Wyden shortly after the first. That bill would have extended the existing protections for federal officials and lawmakers to state officials and their staff, as well as to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. In response to this second bill, Cruz said he was interested in expanding the protections to as wide a group as is feasible and practicable, but that the details for doing so have not yet been worked out.