A new report from the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) warns that combining government data can harm privacy and rights. The report, called “What Is a Database? A Technical Guide to the Personal and Institutional Considerations of Government Data Consolidation,” looks at how agencies store and share data. It says this can greatly affect people's rights and how secure the data is. Published in July 2026, the report says the benefits of sharing data must come with strong protections to avoid harm.
The report says combining data can help reduce busywork and stop fraud, waste, and abuse. When done carefully, sharing data between agencies can make services better and government work smoother. A big part of the report focuses on whether the government is using one big system or many separate ones, sometimes called a “master database.”
The CDT report looks at two ways to combine data: warehousing and federation. In warehousing, all information is kept in one big database. In federation, agencies keep their own data but allow others to access it. While these models work differently—like in storage, control, and updates—they can still cause similar privacy and cyber issues when the government has more access.
A centralized system is a big target for hackers. If it gets broken into, a lot of data could be stolen at once. The federated model avoids one big store. But if one agency is hacked, the attacker might still get data from others through that agency. Even though the models are different, both can lead to the same problems with privacy and keeping data safe.
Data collected for government services—like getting public benefits—might be used for watching people, enforcing immigration laws, or even scaring them. This risk grows when data is used far from its original purpose. More access also creates more cyber risks. Each new way to access data can mean more chances for problems. Big, centralized systems are especially risky. They are big targets for hackers. In a federated system, even though data is stored separately, the whole network can let unauthorized people access data that was collected by one agency but shared with others.
The CDT says consolidation efforts must be carefully checked to protect data and use it right. These checks should look at how data is kept safe, if it fits the agency's goals, and if there are rules to stop harmful uses. The report says without this control, the government could spy more, silence dissent, and stop people from speaking freely or protesting.
In the end, the CDT report tells agencies to think hard about the long-term effects of combining data. These effects could include misuse and loss of public trust. By using strong protections and being open about oversight, the government can reduce risks while still benefiting from better data sharing. The goal is to help the public without hurting people’s rights.