EXAMPLE 3 Use of government databases

Citizens are required to give information to the government. Think of tax returns and Social Security contributions, for example, in the United States. The government needs these data for administrative purposes—to see if we paid the right amount of tax and how large a Social Security benefit we are owed when we retire. Some people feel that individuals should be able to forbid any other use of their data, even with all identification removed. This would prevent using government records to study, say, the ages, incomes, and household sizes of Social Security recipients. Such a study could well be vital to debates on reforming Social Security.