Overcoming Barriers to Data Sharing in the United States

Both public and private sector actors face legal, social, technical, and economic barriers to data sharing in the United States, inhibiting much-needed innovation and discoveries. Overly restrictive data privacy laws and a lack of technical standards hinder sector-specific data sharing in fields such as education and health care, and the misfire of past experiments has led to both a lack of trust and data siloes.

This report details the challenges associated with data sharing and the steps U.S. policymakers can take to overcome these barriers and bring the social and economic benefits of data to all Americans.