For Sale: Your Name and Medical Condition

Dan Abate doesn’t have diabetes, nor is he aware of any obvious link to the disease. Try telling that to data miners. The 42-year-old information technology worker’s name recently showed up in a database of millions of people with “diabetes interest” sold by Acxiom, one of the world’s biggest data brokers. One buyer, data reseller Exact Data, posted Abate’s name and address online, along with 100 others, under the header Sample Diabetes Mailing List. It’s just one of hundreds of medical databases for sale to marketers.

As the population ages and consumers share more health data about themselves online, a burgeoning industry of data miners has emerged, scooping up often-personal medical data and selling it to marketers. While that’s a boon for companies trying to pitch products, privacy advocates warn that collection practices can cross the line. “People would be shocked if they knew they were on some of these lists,” says Pam Dixon, president of the nonprofit advocacy group World Privacy Forum. “Yet millions are.”