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Most people are now familiar with big data and how it’s used to target advertising or suggest love matches based on the data we drop as we move through life in the digital age. In exchange for tech freebies, data space in the cloud, or that new dating app, we do a quick cost-benefit analysis, we click “agree” on user licenses, and dive in. We share our preferences, our locations, our wish lists, tastes, and moods.

But would you do the same with your blood?

In a recent Investigative Fund story for Pacific Standard, I shared the story of a town where more than 10,000 people have contributed their blood, urine, and medical records in exchange for $10 gift cards to Walmart. Their hope is to help their town’s economy and the health of future generations.

The words of one participant haunted me: she said she would never want her samples used to make a profit by a private company in a way that could possibly create pricey drugs or unaffordable treatments. And it turns out that’s...