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

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

#41

Post by joshuamorton »

austhrow743 wrote: post #40
joshuamorton wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

>What track record? Tech company. Automation. Advertising. Do they need to be skinning puppies or something?

Right so how does "Tech company. Automation. Advertising." become "Google has a track record of collecting data totally unrelated to its core business and using it to inform advertising."

If there's a track record of this, you can give other examples of how Google has done that, right? Where they've gone out and collected data under the guise of doing something benign and then used it for advertisements.

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

#42

Post by austhrow743 »

joshuamorton wrote: post #41
austhrow743 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What track record? Tech company. Automation. Advertising. Do they need to be skinning puppies or something?

Right so how does "Tech company. Automation. Advertising." become "Google has a track record of collecting data totally unrelated to its core business and using it to inform advertising." If there's a track record of this, you can give other examples of how Google has done that, right? Where they've gone out and collected data under the guise of doing something benign and then used it for advertisements.

The track record is that of them being morally bankrupt. Not a track record of having applied their moral bankruptcy to this particular scenario as of yet.

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

#43

Post by carapace »

jnordwick wrote: post #26
carapace wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I can't find it, sorry.

I tried to search on their site but it didn't work out (I block JS, couldn't figure out which set of whitelist selection would make search work w/o enabling tracking. Derp NPR, derp.)

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

#44

Post by joshuamorton »

austhrow743 wrote: post #42
joshuamorton wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right so how does "Tech company. Automation. Advertising." become "Google has a track record of collecting data totally unrelated to its core business and using it to inform advertising." If there's a track record of this, you can give other examples of how Google has done that, right? Where they've gone out and collected data under the guise of doing something benign and then used it for advertisements.

The track record is that of them being morally bankrupt. Not a track record of having applied their moral bankruptcy to this particular scenario as of yet.

The how does "Tech company. Automation. Advertising." Imply morally bankrupt?

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

#45

Post by banads »

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…

>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.

They could already do this with data from Android, Chrome, Google, Maps, or Youtube.

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

#46

Post by saagarjha »

rb808 wrote: post #10

I can't read it but sounds like a good thing. Its always a waste to see our smartest developers working on social media or advertising. Hopefully the teams at Google can improve our healthcare which would be one of the most rewarding things they could work on.

It would be a shame if that data ended up being used for advertising, though.

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

#47

Post by saagarjha »

banads wrote: post #45
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…

>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. They could already do this with data from Android, Chrome, Google, Maps, or Youtube.

But they can do it better with more accurate data, which they can get from this.

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

#48

Post by austhrow743 »

joshuamorton wrote: post #44
austhrow743 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The track record is that of them being morally bankrupt. Not a track record of having applied their moral bankruptcy to this particular scenario as of yet.

The how does "Tech company. Automation. Advertising." Imply morally bankrupt?

Tech company = making the world more digital. Perverting humanity. Moving us further away from our natural state. Ripping away any innate semblance of purpose we had.

Automation = Removing the stand in sense of purpose people had found in the modern world. Increasing inequality. Increasing the needed level of education to be productive.

Advertising = creates and reinforces wants. Makes people unhappy with what they already have. Causes them to then have to seek to be productive which is bad because of the previous two.

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

#49

Post by jnordwick »

carapace wrote: post #43
jnordwick wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't find it, sorry.

I tried to search on their site but it didn't work out (I block JS, couldn't figure out which set of whitelist selection would make search work w/o enabling tracking. Derp NPR, derp.)

I tried too. I was just listening to in Friday on the Planet Money podcast on Spotify. It was definitely their voices too, not All Things Considered or anything, and it had Dr. Feinberg's voice too.

(lol, that comment is back down to -1 again. Apparently you cannot say anything bad about astrology on HN either.)

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

#50

Post by deadmutex »

saagarjha wrote: post #46
rb808 wrote: post #10

I can't read it but sounds like a good thing. Its always a waste to see our smartest developers working on social media or advertising. Hopefully the teams at Google can improve our healthcare which would be one of the most rewarding things they could work on.

It would be a shame if that data ended up being used for advertising, though.

From the article:

"The company says its intentions in health are unconnected with its advertising business".

I posted this exact comment elsewhere in the thread. You can search for a discussion on this page around it.

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