Image: Shutterstock/InkaOne
Advertisement
Advertisement
Image: Shutterstock/InkaOne
Advertisement
The point is, we shouldn’t feel that in order to save lives, we need to sacrifice privacy. There’s a middle ground to be found that strikes the right balance—that lets Google and whoever else play superman, without completely giving up on the other values our societies deem important.How much we want to compromise depends largely on the extent of the risks and the pay-offs, and the latter is perhaps overhyped by Page and his pals. Releasing millions of health records won’t do anything on its own to save lives; the potential lies in what we can do with it. Over at the Conversation, cybersecurity lecturer Eerke Boiten argues that we’re just not there yet, and notes that Page’s statement echoes the NHS’s claims that care.data could prevent child deaths. “It is only big data, not magic,” writes Boiten. “Preventing child deaths appears to be brought in as emotional blackmail, expected to trump the valid concerns over the NHS' big data plans.”It’s a bit unclear in Page’s wording when he said that “we’d probably save 100,000 lives” whether he meant “we” as in his company specifically, or “we” as in the human race in general. Certainly it’s clear that Google likely has an interest in gathering this kind of data. Collecting user data is pretty much their MO, after all, and with the mysterious Google Calico project focusing on “health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases,” it wouldn’t be surprising if they had health records in their sights.Then, of course, there's Google Fit, announced at this week's I/O. Details about the new initiative are thin on the ground, but the idea seems to be to let apps and wearable tech share your fitness data with each other. That suggests Google could get into the business of collecting or at least aggregating health data, not just mining it.Moving forward, there’s no doubt big data has a role to play in the future of healthcare. But exactly what that role is requires some careful discussion—not just sensationalist claims a data-hungry tech giant.“It is only big data, not magic.”