Privacy-boosting tech could prevent breaches, data misuse with government aid, report says

Governments should prioritize the use of privacy-boosting technologies like encryption, de-identification and hashing to prevent breaches and data misuse, a report that New America’s Open Technology Institute published Tuesday recommends.

The study comes as cyber and privacy experts warn about the dangers of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accessing sensitive information at federal agencies, also the subject of numerous court challenges. Last week, an executive order on information sharing across the federal bureaucracy also raised alarms about civil liberties risks.

So-called “privacy enhancing technologies,” or PETs, could safeguard against unauthorized access like DOGE’s, said the report’s author, Sydney Saubestre.

“Data sharing is really important, but obviously so is privacy,” she said. “They’re equally important and they’re equally critical, and they shouldn’t necessarily be in opposition to each other. One of the ways that you can remove some of the risk around data sharing is to make sure that you have a privacy-first approach to data sharing, and PETs are a really great way to accomplish that.”

PETs include more commonly known terms like encryption, but also lesser-known tech like synthetic data, which is computer-generated information that reflects properties of real-world data but doesn’t contain any authentic personal information.

The report recommends that governments incentivize the advancement of those technologies by establishing procurement policies that use long-term contracts that provide ongoing revenue streams, thereby ensuring additional investment. It also endorses the writing of guidelines and using grants.

A National Science Foundation-led program created last year sought to boost the use of PETs.

The Trump administration, in addition to engaging in the kinds of activities that such technologies could prevent, also has sought to cut back on many grant programs. Smaller organizations and state governments might be best suited to take up the report’s recommendations right now, Saubestre said.

“There is an urgent need for public sector stakeholders to prioritize securely using data to drive positive outcomes while upholding the privacy and rights of individuals,” the report states.