Dubbed CHINA Prevention Unit, it is the nation’s first state-level task force dedicated to probing data collection and sharing practices by businesses.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has created a specialized task force focused on scrutinizing companies’ data collection practices and their potential connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Speaking at a press conference on Feb. 5, Uthmeier announced that the existing resources within the attorney general’s office would be repurposed to establish this new division.
“We’ve had so much work as we’ve been investigating companies that we believe are sharing personal data and information with China, with the CCP, and even with the Chinese military,” Uthmeier said at the briefing in West Palm Beach. “This work has reached a level where we realize we need to have people dedicated to it full-time.”
Named the Consumer Harm from International Nefarious Actors Prevention Unit—or CHINA Prevention Unit—the specialized unit will review companies across all sectors that state officials believe are disclosing sensitive information to the CCP.
The health technology industry, where companies could access patients’ most confidential data, is identified as the primary focus.
“We’ll be sending some letters, some love letters, to a large number of health tech companies today that we believe have issues,” Uthmeier said. “We’re asking them to provide information [and] show how they’re complying with Florida’s data privacy and consumer protection laws.”
Florida has already initiated investigations into medical companies, including Contec, a Chinese medical instruments maker, which was subpoenaed in June amid concerns that patient monitoring data could be routed through Chinese servers.
As part of its consumer protection efforts, Uthmeier’s office also issued subpoenas to companies in other industries over the past six months. Among the targets are China-founded router maker TP-Link, and Lorex, which produces video doorbells and baby monitors, among other security cameras.
“Floridians have to be put on notice,” Uthmeier said. “There has to be transparency that if there is some sort of ownership deal or a handling or transmission of data overseas that could get into the wrong hands, people need to know that, so that they can make their choices when they go to purchase things at the shelves.”
By Dorothy Li
