Senators Warren and Scanlon propose bill to restrict sale of health and location data to brokers, including data entered into AI systems
The revamped Health and Location Data Protection Act would prohibit companies from selling Americans' health and location data to brokers, with specific coverage for data shared with AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude.
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- A bipartisan group of senators and representatives plans to reintroduce the Health and Location Data Protection Act with expanded provisions to cover data entered into AI systems.
- The bill would prohibit the sale of Americans' health and location data to data brokers, including information shared with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Claude.
- The proposal requires the FTC to enact rules within 180 days and allocates $1 billion for enforcement over the next decade.
- The legislation is sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA).
A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) plans to reintroduce a revamped version of the Health and Location Data Protection Act in the coming weeks. The updated bill expands its scope to prohibit companies from selling Americans' health and location data to data brokers, including information people reveal to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude.
The legislation, also sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enact implementing rules within 180 days of enactment. It would allow the FTC, state attorneys general, and affected individuals to sue to enforce the restrictions. The bill also earmarks $1 billion for FTC enforcement over the next 10 years.
The proposal comes as AI companies increasingly enter the health and medical product space. In January, Elon Musk publicly encouraged users to upload medical records, such as MRI scans, to Grok, xAI’s chatbot. OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, a sandboxed feature within ChatGPT, and ChatGPT for Healthcare, aimed at medical providers. Anthropic followed with Claude for Healthcare, a tool described as 'HIPAA-ready' for individuals, health providers, and hospitals.
Current data protection for such tools 'largely depends on what companies promise in their privacy policies and terms of use,' according to Sara Gerke, a law professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, speaking to The Verge in January. The U.S. lacks a comprehensive federal data privacy framework, despite repeated legislative attempts.
Senator Warren stated in a release, 'It’s more important than ever that we crack down on data brokers that are raking in giant profits from selling Americans’ most sensitive information. Especially as more people enter their private health data into AI, we need to make sure that information isn’t exploited by the highest bidder.'
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