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Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

wsj.com

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Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#21

Post by allovernow »

obmelvin wrote: post #17
deadmutex wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: "The company says its intentions in health are unconnected with its advertising business".

Exactly. There is so much money to be made from healthcare service, it is a market & revenue stream totally separate from advertising, and it can provide great value to many people. There are things one could be critical of regarding their acquisition of data, etc. but I don't think it is in Google's best interest to use the data for advertising.

Why would you trust a literal corporate mouthpiece? You think Zuckerberg cares about your privacy too?

No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement. It's exactly the kind of huge free money that drives everyone else to collect data totally unrelated to their core business. Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the typical tech mindset.

Just imagine the kind of profiles you could build on people with medical data. Beyond targeted drug advertisement, medical devices, and the like, you know which people are sedentary, which play sports, who probably smokes, and I'd bet good money there are correlations between certain conditions and shopping habits, religious preference, and even political preferences. Just begging to be clustered with the latest hot neural net.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#22

Post by sharcerer »

deadmutex wrote: post #16
sharcerer wrote: post #7

Result of not focussing on trust enough. Google is going to have more of this problem. Google really has a problem understanding the compound effects of trust and perception and dealing with it. By now, they should have taken some concrete privacy enhancing steps which might be made for short-term but good for long term trust, as usage of GCP, G Suite, AR will depend a lot on their trust factor. Sundar is really comi…

I think they have taken privacy enhancing steps, though public perception isn't easy to change. A lot of people (including HN users) still mistakenly think that Google sells user data, or medical history is being used for ads, etc. Disclosure: I work at Google, but my opinion is my own.

Yeah. I know they have, enhancing Permissions in Android, making data deletion etc more visible. And I don't think they sell data. Personally, as a student I think they've provided incredible positive value to my life. But I wonder how GCP, Google Health will gain big customers because Google has clearly abused their power in certain areas.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#23

Post by titzer »

jnordwick wrote: post #19

>>> Yet he is reluctant to allow people to opt out of Google’s core health-search tool. He likens that to a physician knowingly offering substandard care, he says. >>> “If you believe me that all we are doing is organizing that information to make it easier for your doctor, I’m going to get a little paternalistic here: I’m never going to let that get opted out,” Dr. Feinberg says. “It’s going to screw up your treatme…

"Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

This is how you appoint yourself lord of all things.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#24

Post by titzer »

Despegar wrote: post #6

>As Google has moved to expand its data collection, some potential partners have been put off by what they viewed as the company’s aggressive maneuvers to acquire data without providing enough information on how it would be used. >Google pushed one medical-data manager not to share data with other companies, according to a person familiar with the pitch. >As part of its huge offer for Cerner, whose software is embedd…

> The most generous interpretation of this is that Google has altruistic motivations to make advances in health and they shouldn't worry about how to monetize whatever they build.

You either make money from your users or off your users.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#25

Post by carapace »

jnordwick wrote: post #19

>>> Yet he is reluctant to allow people to opt out of Google’s core health-search tool. He likens that to a physician knowingly offering substandard care, he says. >>> “If you believe me that all we are doing is organizing that information to make it easier for your doctor, I’m going to get a little paternalistic here: I’m never going to let that get opted out,” Dr. Feinberg says. “It’s going to screw up your treatme…

> Planet Money had an interview with Dr. Feinberg

Got a link?

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#26

Post by jnordwick »

carapace wrote: post #25
jnordwick wrote: post #19

>>> Yet he is reluctant to allow people to opt out of Google’s core health-search tool. He likens that to a physician knowingly offering substandard care, he says. >>> “If you believe me that all we are doing is organizing that information to make it easier for your doctor, I’m going to get a little paternalistic here: I’m never going to let that get opted out,” Dr. Feinberg says. “It’s going to screw up your treatme…

> Planet Money had an interview with Dr. Feinberg Got a link?

I can't find it, sorry.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#27

Post by bitL »

deadmutex wrote: post #16
sharcerer wrote: post #7

Result of not focussing on trust enough. Google is going to have more of this problem. Google really has a problem understanding the compound effects of trust and perception and dealing with it. By now, they should have taken some concrete privacy enhancing steps which might be made for short-term but good for long term trust, as usage of GCP, G Suite, AR will depend a lot on their trust factor. Sundar is really comi…

I think they have taken privacy enhancing steps, though public perception isn't easy to change. A lot of people (including HN users) still mistakenly think that Google sells user data, or medical history is being used for ads, etc. Disclosure: I work at Google, but my opinion is my own.

That might be true now, but who knows where your current employer will be in 10 years and if they by then even remotely match your current values. We are already seeing cracks forming and it makes difficult to trust them with our most sensitive data. It was easier 10-15 years ago, not so much these days.

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#28

Post by joshuamorton »

allovernow wrote: post #21
obmelvin wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. There is so much money to be made from healthcare service, it is a market & revenue stream totally separate from advertising, and it can provide great value to many people. There are things one could be critical of regarding their acquisition of data, etc. but I don't think it is in Google's best interest to use the data for advertising.

Why would you trust a literal corporate mouthpiece? You think Zuckerberg cares about your privacy too? No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement. It's exactly the kind of huge free money that drives everyone else to collect data totally unrelated to their core business. Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the t…

> No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement.

There are ample ones: It's illegal, it's highly unethical, and you wouldn't be able to keep something like that a secret.

> Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the typical tech mindset.

What track record?

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#29

Post by [deleted] »

joshuamorton wrote: post #28
allovernow wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you trust a literal corporate mouthpiece? You think Zuckerberg cares about your privacy too? No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement. It's exactly the kind of huge free money that drives everyone else to collect data totally unrelated to their core business. Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the t…

> No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement. There are ample ones: It's illegal, it's highly unethical, and you wouldn't be able to keep something like that a secret. > Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the typical tech mindset. What track record?

[deleted]

Re: Paging Dr. Google: How the Tech Giant Is Laying Claim to Health Data

#30

Post by username90 »

allovernow wrote: post #21
obmelvin wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. There is so much money to be made from healthcare service, it is a market & revenue stream totally separate from advertising, and it can provide great value to many people. There are things one could be critical of regarding their acquisition of data, etc. but I don't think it is in Google's best interest to use the data for advertising.

Why would you trust a literal corporate mouthpiece? You think Zuckerberg cares about your privacy too? No way in hell Google isn't going to use this for advertisement. It's exactly the kind of huge free money that drives everyone else to collect data totally unrelated to their core business. Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the t…

> Even if the intentions are benign now, there's no reason to trust they'll be so later, based on Google's track record and the typical tech mindset.

I have never heard of Google doing outright illegal things. They make very liberal interpretations of the law in their own favor, but patient data protection is very clear and well understood so there isn't much room to play there.

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