Promoting Digital Privacy Technologies Act

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Defunct
• Most recent activity date: 2025-01-03

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Compromise of privacy

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• AI system security vulnerabilities

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document has minimal coverage of AI risk domains, with primary focus on privacy protection (2.1) through privacy-enhancing technologies. There is implicit coverage of security vulnerabilities (2.2) through integration with cybersecurity programs. The document does not directly address most AI-specific risks, as it focuses on privacy technology research and development rather than AI risk mitigation.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Scientific Research & Development Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Information
• Professional & Technical Services
• Educational Services

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This legislation primarily governs Scientific Research and Development Services through mandated research programs on privacy-enhancing technologies. It also has implications for Information sector entities that collect and process data, and Professional and Technical Services that may adopt these technologies. The governance is primarily focused on federal research agencies rather than regulating specific economic sectors directly.

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that, if enacted, would create mandatory obligations for federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, NIST, and OSTP. The document uses mandatory language ('shall') throughout and establishes legally enforceable requirements for research support, coordination, reporting, and outreach activities.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Senator Catherine Cortez Masto; Senator Deb Fischer; United States Senate; Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
• Summary: The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senator Cortez Masto and Senator Fischer, as indicated in the header of the legislative document.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: National Science Foundation; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Office of Science and Technology Policy; Federal Trade Commission; Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program
• Summary: The Act targets federal agencies and programs, requiring them to support research, coordinate activities, conduct outreach, and submit reports on privacy-enhancing technologies. The document also mentions private, public, and academic stakeholders as recipients of outreach and engagement activities.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate; Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives; Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives
• Summary: Congressional committees serve as the enforcement mechanism through oversight and receipt of mandatory progress reports. The document does not specify traditional enforcement agencies with penalty authority, but rather relies on Congressional oversight.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Office of Science and Technology Policy; Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program; National Science Foundation; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Federal Trade Commission
• Summary: The Office of Science and Technology Policy, acting through the NITRD Program, is required to coordinate monitoring activities and submit progress reports. Multiple federal agencies are involved in coordinating and tracking the development and implementation of privacy-enhancing technologies.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Collect and Process Data
• Build and Use Model
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document primarily covers the Plan and Design stage through research support and coordination activities, and the Build and Use Model stage through fundamental research on privacy-enhancing algorithms and machine learning. It also addresses Operate and Monitor through ongoing stakeholder engagement and progress reporting requirements.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

No technical scope terms identified.

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly mentions machine learning and algorithms as part of privacy-enhancing technologies research. It does not specifically mention AI models, AI systems, frontier AI, general purpose AI, foundation models, generative AI, or compute thresholds. The focus is on privacy-enhancing technologies broadly, which may include AI components but are not exclusively AI-focused.