The security of personal health and healthcare data is an area of great societal importance, raising questions about privacy rights, ethics, and fair use of information. As health information, especially information that falls outside of federal privacy laws, is collected and stored in multiple venues — doctors’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies, walk-in clinics, blood and organ donor banks, activity trackers, and DNA mail-order test kits, to name a few — citizens should have greater knowledge of who holds their health-related data, whether it is shared or sold, how secure it is, how it is used, and whether it is being used for commercial gain.

CDT advocates for increased individual control over health and wellness-related information, inside and outside regulatory protections, and for constructive technical solutions inside of companies.