The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s plan to consolidate disease data using Palantir's system has sparked significant privacy concerns. The move, while aimed at modernizing antiquated data systems exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, raises anxieties about the potential misuse of sensitive health information.
The CDC will shift disease information to Palantir's Foundry platform, a system already used by various agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. This consolidation raises concerns about the potential for data aggregation and the resulting risks to patient privacy.
Officials worry that the expansive data collection could endanger individuals with sensitive health needs, such as those receiving gender-affirming care, reproductive healthcare, or those with disabilities. The Trump administration's expansion of Palantir's work across the federal government fuels further mistrust regarding data sharing.
The article highlights the lack of transparency surrounding the data collection and utilization, contributing to the unease among state and local officials and advocacy groups, who are expressing their concerns over potential misuse of patient data.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s plans to consolidate data on diseases like measles and polio are raising concerns about patient privacy, delays in spotting long-term trends and ways the Trump administration may use the information.
The agency told state officials earlier this week that it would shift disease information to a new system managed by Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm co-founded by Peter Thiel.
The change is not entirely unexpected. The Covid pandemic revealed that the C.D.C.’s data systems were antiquated, hobbling the country’s response in the crucial early months. A plan to modernize and consolidate the agency’s data systems began during the Biden administration.
But news that the Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months, allowing it to compile detailed information about Americans, has introduced a new layer of anxiety and mistrust among state and local officials about sharing data with the C.D.C.
Palantir’s systems, including those at the C.D.C., rely on a platform called Foundry that could merge information from different agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health all use Foundry.
Some officials worry that a sprawling data collection system could expose or endanger people with sensitive health needs, like gender care, reproductive health care or disabilities. Some labor and other advocacy groups have tried to block the Trump administration from sharing data across agencies.
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