Federal Computer Week: U.K. mulls handing off national health records to Microsoft, Google
It will be interesting to see which one the UK chooses. Microsoft joined the bipartisan Coalition for Patient Privacy to urge Congress to restore consumer control over PHI in 2007. Google has not.
MS signed Coalition letters in 2007 and 2009, and agreed to support the Coalition's tough privacy principles and health privacy rights in electronic systems. HealthVault was built to adhere to the Coalition's stringent privacy principles. Open, public promises by major corporations are taken very seriously by federal regulatory agencies and consumer advocates.
The promises by the technology corporations that joined the Coalition are a rebuke to other HIT vendors and the data mining industry that will do anything to get their hands on PHI for all sorts of uses that patients would never agree to.
Today, the clearest sign of serious corporate commitment to health privacy rights is joining the Coalition for Patient Privacy and standing with consumers to build an ethical, legal HIT system---the only kind that will be trusted and succeed.
Showing posts with label google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google. Show all posts
Monday, July 6, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
More than just google
In response to the Consumer Watch article: "U.S. Senate Records Reveal Google Inc. Lobbying Campaign On Personal Medical Records Law Despite Internet Giant's Denials"
This story is of interest because the public has no idea which corporations lobbied against their privacy rights in the stimulus bill or how much was spent overall to try to eliminate health privacy.
The focus on Google alone is misleading and actually distracts from the real work of informing the public about the major health-related industries that have long opposed Americans' privacy rights. The real question is which other industry giants that are not household names lobbied against privacy?
The total lobbying money spent by the massive secret health data mining industry, insurers, hospitals, and big Pharma to oppose Americans' rights to privacy far exceeds Google's lobbying expenses.
If we don’t know who all the culprits are, we can't stop them and restore privacy.
The most dangerous enemies of privacy are the ones we don’t know about.
This story is of interest because the public has no idea which corporations lobbied against their privacy rights in the stimulus bill or how much was spent overall to try to eliminate health privacy.
The focus on Google alone is misleading and actually distracts from the real work of informing the public about the major health-related industries that have long opposed Americans' privacy rights. The real question is which other industry giants that are not household names lobbied against privacy?
The total lobbying money spent by the massive secret health data mining industry, insurers, hospitals, and big Pharma to oppose Americans' rights to privacy far exceeds Google's lobbying expenses.
If we don’t know who all the culprits are, we can't stop them and restore privacy.
The most dangerous enemies of privacy are the ones we don’t know about.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Pro-Privacy Will Continue to Grow
More and more genuine consumer pro-privacy groups ---as opposed to privacy-lite, industry-supported, faux consumer organizations---are speaking out to restore privacy in electronic health systems. Support for privacy rights will build and build. There may be set-backs, but we cannot be stopped. See this recent article on Consumer Watchdog supporting patient privacy.
The real reason privacy will win is simple and practical: electronic systems will never be trusted or work unless consumers control personal health information.
In the words of Justice Brandeis: "The right to be let alone is the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the [Constitution].” Justice Brandeis 1928.
Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478, 48 S.Ct. 564, 572 (1928) (Brandeis J., dissenting).
Brandeis dissented from the conventional wisdom of his time. Today we are the dissenters from the CW of our time, but like Brandeis' dissent, ours will prevail.
The real reason privacy will win is simple and practical: electronic systems will never be trusted or work unless consumers control personal health information.
In the words of Justice Brandeis: "The right to be let alone is the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the [Constitution].” Justice Brandeis 1928.
Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478, 48 S.Ct. 564, 572 (1928) (Brandeis J., dissenting).
Brandeis dissented from the conventional wisdom of his time. Today we are the dissenters from the CW of our time, but like Brandeis' dissent, ours will prevail.
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