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Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

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Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#71
post #36

Can we just put a pause on all the Facebook stories for a while? Lots of fluff pieces with no real content making it to the homepage from outlets that are banking off the current outrage.

Interestingly we've also seen an increase of the number of shill-like accounts claiming "nothing to see here." I don't mean you.

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#72
It seems like a perfect pairing given the rise of the "fitness trackers" that are so popular. They could build vastly better risk models for [to sell to] the insurance companies with access to "anonymous" health history combined with all the data that the fitness trackers collect.

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#73
post #44
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has been screwing with people's privacy for years, so it's only fair that they are now criticised for years on end. This has got to be a new Facebook apology meme: the pile-on. Until Facebook and privacy is regulated in the US, like GDPR does it for the EU, the pile-on should continue. Must continue, no matter how uncomfortable it is for the pro-Facebook, pro-ads or pro-spyware people.

For me, the result of having HN filled with these Facebook non-stories is that I'm going to stop taking an interest in them. As far as I can tell the situation with Facebook is substantially the same as it's been since it started. Users willfully broadcast information using Facebook, and sometimes Facebook uses that information in ways its users didn't intend or expect. Among the recent slew of dramatic stories I hav…

What makes you think this is a non-story? It is yet another example of a culture that feeds on lack of empathy and respect of peoples lives.

Yes, it is boring, yes it is repetitive. And it will continue to be that way until facebook gains a shred of decency. But I guess that we should just forgive and ignore because there are too may of them?

Maybe you are not the target of these stories, the public at large do feel that they are surprising and shocking.

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#74
post #18
post #6

The pile on continues... (1) This is probably a project by a small "research" group at Facebook. The goal of that group is probably to publish papers in a Psych journal or something like that about how they were able to correlate anonymized medical data with Facebook feed updates. Tech companies have these research groups for prestige, they are not central to the company mission. (2) According to the article, the pro…

(1) Or it could have been just another way to add a little more data to your profile. And even if you are right, I don't think you are but if you were, do you really want a company to do psychological experiments with you without your knowledge? (2) Yeah, but it wasn't started because of the pile on. You can't give Facebook credit for not starting this.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike/disagree with facebook more than most folks, but even I can smell a dead horse being beaten.

For years privacy-minded people have complained about the lack of recognition of privacy issues among the masses. Suddenly, story after story about aspects of Facebook's anti-privacy practices are being read by the public. This will lead to more stories about other data mining entities as well. The more this keeps up, the more concrete privacy issues will be in the minds of many. And yet, HN is full of dismissals. I'…

The hubristic disconnect between the technical minded people here on HN and the general masses of users is startling and indicative of the problem.

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#76
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has been screwing with people's privacy for years, so it's only fair that they are now criticised for years on end. This has got to be a new Facebook apology meme: the pile-on. Until Facebook and privacy is regulated in the US, like GDPR does it for the EU, the pile-on should continue. Must continue, no matter how uncomfortable it is for the pro-Facebook, pro-ads or pro-spyware people.

They're hardly alone, just the most visible. Let's remember that many of our fellow hackers are likely Facebook engineers doing regular work, and are probably feeling pretty bad right now, even though the decisions behind what's going on is way above their pay grade. Yes there's some responsibility due them as well, but perhaps we can remain civil to our silent peers?

>Let's remember that many of our fellow hackers are likely Facebook engineers doing regular work, and are probably feeling pretty bad right now, even though the decisions behind what's going on is way above their pay grade.

Didn't we establish that "just following orders" doesn't cut it decades ago?

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#77
I don't understand. Why? What was the motivation to conduct such talks? Regarding what Facebook does, according to Facebook connecting people, how does patient's medical data contributes to that? "You've been committed to the local hospital last week, connect to people who shared that experience with you?" It doesn't make sense at all!

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're hardly alone, just the most visible. Let's remember that many of our fellow hackers are likely Facebook engineers doing regular work, and are probably feeling pretty bad right now, even though the decisions behind what's going on is way above their pay grade. Yes there's some responsibility due them as well, but perhaps we can remain civil to our silent peers?

>Let's remember that many of our fellow hackers are likely Facebook engineers doing regular work, and are probably feeling pretty bad right now, even though the decisions behind what's going on is way above their pay grade. Didn't we establish that "just following orders" doesn't cut it decades ago?

The second paragraph that you didn't quote covered that

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#79
post #6

The pile on continues... (1) This is probably a project by a small "research" group at Facebook. The goal of that group is probably to publish papers in a Psych journal or something like that about how they were able to correlate anonymized medical data with Facebook feed updates. Tech companies have these research groups for prestige, they are not central to the company mission. (2) According to the article, the pro…

On the one hand, I'm rather happy about this sudden outpouring of anger; FB has fundamentally corrupted the public square, scrutiny is appropriate.

On the other hand, it's hard not to get conspiratorial, given https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/12/facebook-rupert-murdoch-thre...

Re: Facebook was in talks with hospitals about a proposal to share data

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Let's remember that many of our fellow hackers are likely Facebook engineers doing regular work, and are probably feeling pretty bad right now, even though the decisions behind what's going on is way above their pay grade. Didn't we establish that "just following orders" doesn't cut it decades ago?

The second paragraph that you didn't quote covered that

Barely. I think FB engineers deserve more than “some” of the blame here. Surely they could see the negative consequences of linking health data into their graph.
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