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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

#71

Well we've given google everything else, we may as well give them all our healthcare information too. So glad our corporate surveillance masters are teaming up to infiltrate every aspect of our existence.

Rather say that google _took_ everything else. Few realized the value of what was up for grabs at the time but by making life easy for web developers with g-analytics google created a firehose of user data. By using g-analytics we gave the web away.

Where is this firehose of health data is going to lead to?

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

#72
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…

In re: “Don’t worry about making money.”: They're sitting in a firehose of cashflow. They waste more in a day than most people earn in a lifetime. I was working as a contractor there and the Occam's Razor hypothesis I formed to account for the massive waste I saw was that they have so much money that they can afford to sequester talent. (Meaning, they can hire a bunch of people just to keep them from working for comp…

> Meaning, they can hire a bunch of people just to keep them from working for competitors.

I think that's pretty true and partly explains why they respond so well to competing offers from other tech companies when you're negotiating salary

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

#74
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I honestly don't get this: the reverence with which Google treats user data has only increased over time. What gives you the opposite impression?

personally, I do think that Google handles user data well. some people here might get triggered, but I don't have problem with it. I am talking about the perception problem for Google among big cos, which will impact GCP and Google Health. Though, frankly I hope now these cos realize that Amazon is some trustworthy alternative either(as some corp thought in the mentioned article), Amazon was in a honeymoon period for the past 3-4 years, now with their face recog, Ring etc. the attention has shifted to them.

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

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. You’re just cutting the cord of falsifiability here. Because none of us can see 10 years into the future, you’ve made it impossible for anyone to disagree with you or even have a reasonable discussion. It’s an intellectually dishonest position to take.

Not really. Google has had a track record of collecting data on people, in addition to signs that tremendous changes in its corporate culture; it’s not unreasonable to speculate where they may go with that in the future.

Collecting data is not bad, not being transparent/untrustworthy is bad. Now, when these health deals are going on, the companies worry that G will claim data or do something nefarious. And even though I am a Google admirer( enthusiasm has waned over the past 2 years), I also fear that they'll keep making BS moves. My disappointment with Google is mainly due to the cultural changes and the mismanagement, because that was the thing which attracted me to them when I was in grade 9-12, and now in college, I keep getting frustrated by the stupid product decisions in many of their apps( i mean forget messaging, the reminders in Google app/ assistant are a mess). Like it seems some teams are really incompetent.

But, I somehow am really unimpressed by Pichai. I know Pichai, Cook, Satya are the executive types, but of all 3 Pichai seems to have the lowest vision, in every interview he speaks, it's like he's being very careful, like no enthusiasm at all.

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

#76
post #11

Assuming Google has access to patient PII would this data be covered by the CCPA ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Consumer_Privacy_Ac... )? I couldn't find a Health Data option at https://takeout.google.com .

ASFAIK, CCPA doesn’t cover data that comes under HIPAA Regulations.

Check 1798.145. Section 3 https://hq.services/blog/ccpa-full-text-with-amendments/

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

#77

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?

Wouldn't be the first time Google did something illegal or unethical or tried to keep it secret, like secretly trying to build a censored search for China, firing labor organizers, etc.

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

#78
post #45

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.

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

Not everyone uses Google websites.

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

#80
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

De-anonymzed (health) data likely isn't covered by HIPAA, and with a few still generic data points likely associated with the health data, such as health, gender, age, and location -- you could work backwards to reach an identity. There's likely a loophole for whole security of health data thing.

Did you mean de-identified instead of de-anonymzed?

I meant anonymized can easily become de-anonymized.
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