LONDON (Labour Buzz) - Tech giants have been looking to get their claws on NHS data for years and Coronavirus gives them the chance they’ve been looking for.
At the end of March, the Government quietly announced the largest transfer of NHS data to private organisations ever.
The beneficiaries are Amazon, Google and Microsoft and two US AI firms Faculty and Palantir who will receive ‘unprecedented’ levels of data such as 111 calls and patient test results. Here’s why this should worry you.
Big data
The companies will use this data to deliver a variety of services such as helping the NHS manage logistics, track infrastructure and see where demand will be highest. It is intended to help them fight the virus and ensure they don’t run out of capacity.
But there’s a problem.
Although NHS X Digital claims the data will be anonymous and time limited, these companies don’t have a spotless track record when it comes to handling data.
Google was fined a record €50million for misusing personal data by French authorities, Microsoft’s LinkedIn platform was found guilty of processing data without consent, while Amazon was accused of misusing seller data to design its own in-house products.
The tech giant has also come under fire in the US after the Wall Street Journal revealed it was working on Project Nightingale, an initiative to collect and analyse the personal health information of millions of people.
But it’s the presence of Faculty and Palantir which should really set alarm bells ringing
Palantir has been involved in a host of controversies in the US. It developed a system used by US Immigration and Customs to separate immigrant parents from their children. Its predictive policing software tools by Los Angeles Police Department have also led to a disproportionately high number of arrests against African Americans.
Its founder, Peter Thiel, helped to fund the election of Donal Trump, financed a lawsuit to take down the blog site Gawker and is on record as saying he no longer believes “freedom and democracy are compatible”.
Last month it signed a contract in the US for $24.8 million to provide the Department of Health and Human Services with data management software to track health infrastructure and identify where future need will be required.
The head of the Federal Emergencies and Marketing Agency has urged health officials in all states to hand over public health information to the company.
Faculty, meanwhile, is an AI start up run by Marc Warner who just happens to be brother of Ben Warner, who advisers Number 10 on Digital Technologies. He also headed up the data operation for Vote Leave which used controversial data company Aggregate IQ to drive targeted adds during the referendum.
He’s already done very well out of this crisis. Over the past 18 months, his company is thought to have won £1million’s worth of Government contracts.
Trust us
The NHS says all data anonymised and the companies will not be able to share the data for their own purpose. Even so the information is extremely sensitive.
Documents seen by the Guardian show it involves personal protected health information such as Covid 19 test results, contents of calls to 111 and clinical information such as details of people in intensive care.
Even though the data is supposed to be anonymous it is still useful and, if a third party put their mind to it, they could identify the people behind it. Controls can only limit, rather than eliminate the risk.
In short, the NHS is asking us to trust that they, and the companies using this data, will act responsibly.
However, they have been less than transparent about their dealings with the three companies. A Freedom of Information Request from Open Democracy and tech justice start up Foxglove demanded the government publish details of its deals.
Under UK law, journalists and other organisations should be able to access information about these deals. However, the Government has ignored the request.
On 15 April, the Information Commissioner announced that FOI rules would be relaxed for the duration of the crisis. The Government appears to believe that, for the time being, they can act as if the rules don’t apply to them.
Reasons to be fearful
However, we do know a little about the deal.
The Guardian’s report finds that Faculty proposed a simulation of a policy it describes as ‘targeted herd immunity’. This was part of an NHSX planning document which was considered as late as the 23rd of March, long after the Government claimed it had consigned herd immunity to the dustbin.
In other words, even after Matt Hancock was publicly distancing himself from the potentially disastrous policy, they were secretly looking into it.
The decision to let the private sector in, came after a ‘summit’ on 11 October which was attended dozens of executives from tech firms, all keen to get their hands on the data. Chairing the summit was the Prime Minister’s Chief Adviser, Dominic Cummings who believed in the power of big data.
The private sector was being invited to a banquet and precious NHS data was on the menu.
Data has an undeniably vital role to play in the fight against Covid 19, but it also represents an invasion of privacy on an unprecedented scale.
The Private Sector has been clamouring to get its hands on NHS data for many years. Amazon took part in an agreement which gave it access to data from the NHS website for free. Google bought medial records of 50 million Americans and Facebook asked American hospitals to share patient data as part of a project to use machine learning to read MRI scans.
The social network giant also unveiled a tool called Preventative Health to send reminders to Americans to get their cholesterol tested or a flu shot.
They claim that data is anonymous, but the more data they have the easier it is to identify the people behind it. Even without an identity, it provides immense value for a company looking to track trends, spot market opportunities and find new ways to market to us.
At a time when the NHS is under threat of privatisation giving the private sector the keys to such a treasure trove of data is asking for trouble. It’s like inviting a fox into a chicken coup and asking it to promise it will behave.
What are they hiding?
The Government tells us the data is protected; the tech giants ask us to trust them. However, time and time again everyone involved with this deal has shown they cannot be trusted to use data responsibly.
With the NHS refusing to disclose details of their deal it begs the questions: what are they hiding and what do they intend to do with our data.
(Written by Tom Cropper, edited by Michael O’Sullivan)