It sounded like a harmless request this past weekend: Sign up to be a bone marrow donor to potentially help people who need life-saving transplants.

I was among tens of thousands of people who packed in to a popular live music festival (Austin City Limits) held in Austin, Texas, each year. I had just arrived and was walking the perimeter of the festival, stopping in at different vendor booths. At one booth, a smiling man approached me asking if I’d like to sign up to be in a database of potential bone marrow donors. Ok, I said, walking under the canopy.

I was willing to give up my bone marrow — a process that can be extremely painful — but not my personal information.

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