Under Pressure, UK Government Releases NHS COVID Data Deals With Big Tech (opendemocracy.net) 15
From a report: Hours before facing court proceedings from openDemocracy over its massive NHS COVID-19 data deal with private tech firms, the UK government has caved to pressure and released all the contracts governing its deals with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and controversial AI firms Faculty and Palantir. The contracts, released to openDemocracy and tech justice firm Foxglove today, reveal details of what has been described as an 'unprecedented' transfer of personal health information of millions of NHS users to these private tech firms. Significantly, the contracts reveal that the Dominic Cummings-linked firm Faculty is being paid more than $1.3m to provide AI services for the NHS. The documents also show that terms of that deal were changed after initial demands for transparency were made by Foxglove under the Freedom of Information Act. The contracts show that companies involved in the NHS datastore project, including Faculty and Palantir, were originally granted intellectual property rights (including the creation of databases), and were allowed to train their models and profit off their unprecedented access to NHS data.
So? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, it sucks, and it's deplorable that the British government is selling out its own citizens. But anybody who's been paying attention for the past decade or more, in ANY first world country as well as a lot of the third-world ones, can't even pretend to be surprised. There's the problem really - the number of citizens who haven't been paying attention, who don't bother to ask questions and be informed, and who conflate 'nothing to be ashamed of' with 'nothing to hide'.
Welcome to your new governance model - it's called 'corporatocracy', and it may be a stepping stone to something you know as 'fascism'. No, you're not going to like it. Yes, you could have prevented it, but now it's probably too late. Best of luck!
Re:So? (Score:4, Informative)
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It's fucked us by destroying what little support there was for contact tracing. The app in particular is viewed with suspicion.
The UK is by far the worst hit country in Europe for COVID-19. We desperately need solid, competent leadership and a functional tracing system but are getting neither.
Contact tracing and modeling (Score:1, Informative)
Contact tracing is one of the pillars of allowing a country to reopen. Modeling of the pandemic is another pillar. The UK models were particularly excellent and prevented many deaths. These require data to work effectively.
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Re: (Score:1, Informative)
Yeah, I agree. As long as the government has oversight over the corporations it is fine to hand all of our data over to the corporations. Plus, like you said, we can pay the corporations to do it with money.
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Also interesting to note that they're doing all this (or trying to) while s
Re:Contact tracing and modeling (Score:4, Informative)
And these companies will get paid for their work in pounds only, not with data.
Google are getting paid One Pound (see below).
And be aware that to extract this text I had to OCR their PDF because Google supplied the contract text [opendemocracy.net] as low-resolution *images* embedded in a PDF, clearly to prevent keyword search etc, and, well, because that's just the kind of scummy move that typifies companies when they have to provide information they don't want to.
Google is offering to provide support free of charge to assist [NHS/NHSX/PHE?] with its efforts to tackle COVID-19. Google is providing support purely as a service to the public during the COVID-19-related public health emergency, and not as a gift to any individual government official. In consideration of £1, receipt and sufficiency of which Google acknowedges, NHS England (the NHS Commissioning Board) and NHS Improvement (Monitor and the Trust Development Authority) and the Department of Health and Social Care, together acting as "NHSX'" accepts Google's offer of support on the terms set out below and on the understanding that Google expects nothing further in return for these services.
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Yes, but the contract also says that "NHSX will not provide Google with any personal data" and it goes on to spell out that this contract is really not about Google obtaining any personal data. I'm content to be cynical but it really does look like a straightforward pro bono arrangement.
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That's not what the summary says:
Maybe that doesn't include Google or maybe some schmuck is lying, given that the Tories are in control, the likelihood of lying is quite high.
Capt. Obvious says..... (Score:2)
If you put it in a database, somebody is going to find a way to make a buck off it. (And people will act all shocked)
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The problem is that data for the database has to have high adoption in order for the application to be useful.
People being suspicious that their data is being monetized for something that requires voluntary adoption does not help adoption at all.
In other words, people are less likely to install the contract tracing app (especially since they rejected the Apple/Google solution) knowing that th