Google secretly amassed healthcare data on millions of Americans in creepy ‘Project Nightingale’ scheme
GOOGLE has secretly accumulated personal medical data about millions of Americans, it has been revealed.
The collection of the personal info, including names, dates of birth, lab results and hospital records, has sparked concerns about current privacy laws.
Google's medical data collection was first exposed by the .
The publication revealed that the initiative was called 'Project Nightingale'.
Google and Ascension, which is the healthcare organisation that Google partnered with, have reportedly highlighted that the scheme is completely legal.
However, lawyers, medical professionals and tech experts have been giving mixed and sometimes outraged reactions.
Academic and former medical researcher Dr. Robert Epstein : "Just revealed: #Google is secretly collecting health data on millions of Americans from hospitals nationwide without patients or doctors knowing - WITH patient names - including, maybe, YOURS.
"You can't make this s*** up. #BeAfraid"
Both Google and Ascension have acknowledged the partnership and released statements insisting that they want to improve patient outcomes.
They also stressed that they are complying with existing privacy laws and data protections.
However, a lot of people are concerned that both patients and doctors had no idea that any of the data was being collected or what it was being used for.
A whistleblower who reportedly worked on Project Nightingale told : "“Most Americans would feel uncomfortable if they knew their data was being haphazardly transferred to Google without proper safeguards and security in place.
"This is a totally new way of doing things. Do you want your most personal information transferred to Google? I think a lot of people would say no.”
Google's recent acquisition of FitBit has now come under scrutiny as that will also give it access to the health data of millions of people.
At the time of the acquisition Google tried to reassure any concerned users and said that it would "never sell personal data to anyone".
The exposure of Project Nightingale has brought up debate about Google and FitBit on social media again.
Editor of two smart tech publications Hugh Langley : "*This* is why Google bought Fitbit.
"The big picture is about getting closer to patients, not about the Apple Watch.
"But the deal is already under a lot of scrutiny by some regulators – this story validates those concerns. Could slow things in 2020?"
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google's end goal of the medical data collection is to create a search tool that will combine patient data.
On the other hand, Ascension is said to be aiming to mine patient data to identify if any additional tests are necessary or find out if there are other ways to generate more revenue from the patients.
How to view what Google knows about you
You can take the following steps...
- First, you'll need to be signed into your Gmail or Google account
- Once you've done that, type "history.google.com/history" into your web browser
- You'll be taken to a hub which contains your entire digital footprint, so be careful, it could make for some grim reading
- This includes Maps searches and YouTube videos you've watched
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Do you worry about what personal data companies collect? Let us know in the comments...
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