Senator Ted Cruz has blocked a bipartisan privacy bill that aimed to stop data brokers from selling or exposing the personal information of Americans, arguing that the measure could limit law enforcement’s ability to track dangerous 0 Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced the Protecting Americans from Doxing and Political Violence Act (Senate Bill 2850). Cruz, a known Bitcoin advocate, was the only 1 to object to this 2 recent block follows a recent proposal from Cruz aimed at establishing guidelines for artificial intelligence, especially regarding how businesses develop and launch new 3 bill would mandate the establishment of a federally managed AI testing environment, to which firms would apply for entry through the White House Office of Science and Technology 4 lawmakers, including Cruz, are worried that excessive regulation may cause the 5 fall behind China in AI 6 proposed sandbox would enable firms to highlight burdensome rules and request 7 blocks privacy bills and raises concerns about police work Data brokers collect details like a person’s home address, contacts, and bank account information to sell them to the highest bidder or anyone willing to 8 information can also become personal, including details about their children, such as the school they attend or the daily routes they 9 of the crypto community have also been targeted for 10 to a database managed by Bitcoiner Jameson Lopp, there have been over 50 attacks on people or families holding crypto in 2025 11 who support the bill in the Senate said this information is too dangerous to be sold because criminals, stalkers, or violent individuals could find and harm the target person.
However, Cruz raised strong 12 to him, the bill could also pose serious problems for law enforcement officers who need to access a wide range of information in the course of their 13 said children and families could be in more danger if the bill were to become law in its current state because it could prevent police from tracking down convicted 14 told other senators that they should not see his stance as an opposition to privacy because he is “interested in expanding the protection to as wide a universe as is feasible, as is practicable.” However, he feels that the bill’s current version is not yet ready and requires further refinement to strike a balance between protecting people from illegal data sales and providing law enforcement with the necessary tools to keep communities 15 also stopped a second and smaller bill that Wyden introduced immediately 16 Senate Bill 2851 was written to stop data brokers from selling the personal information of lawmakers, their families, their staff, and also survivors of sexual assault and domestic 17 said these groups deserved protection immediately because they faced higher risks of harassment and violent attacks, but Cruz still rejected the 18 to him, it still failed to address the larger problem of balancing privacy and the needs of law 19 pushes for stronger rules to protect Americans from data brokers Senator Ron Wyden spoke at length about why his bill is so important and used the killing of former Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman as an 20 believe her attacker purchased information from a data broker and used it to locate her 21 said the Senate has a responsibility to stop this event from happening 22 also pointed to the 50+ kidnappings and home invasions against individuals connected to crypto in 2025 23 of the attackers found their victims by purchasing their personal information from data 24 said that criminals not only target wealthy businesspeople or politicians, but also ordinary citizens whose information has been 25 experts argue that criminals will always be able to buy what they need without strong laws to prevent 26 Protecting Americans from Doxing and Political Violence Act states that data brokers would no longer be allowed to sell or publish personal 27 also gives people the power to demand that their information be removed from websites or businesses within 72 hours and take legal action against any company that fails to 28 up to Bybit and start trading with $30,050 in welcome gifts
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