Pinboard (jm)
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recent bookmarks from jmInsurance companies given access to UK Biobank health data, despite promises2023-11-13T11:20:11+00:00
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/12/private-uk-health-data-donated-medical-research-shared-insurance-companies
jmWhen the project was announced, in 2002, Biobank promised that data would not be given to insurance companies after concerns were raised that it could be used in a discriminatory way, such as by the exclusion of people with a particular genetic makeup from insurance.
In an FAQ section on the Biobank website, participants were told: “Insurance companies will not be allowed access to any individual results nor will they be allowed access to anonymised data.” The statement remained online until February 2006, during which time the Biobank project was subject to public scrutiny and discussed in parliament.
The promise was also reiterated in several public statements by backers of Biobank, who said safeguards would be built in to ensure that “no insurance company or police force or employer will have access”.
This weekend, Biobank said the pledge – made repeatedly over four years – no longer applied. It said the commitment had been made before recruitment formally began in 2007 and that when Biobank volunteers enrolled they were given revised information.
]]>biobank uk politics health medicine data-privacy insurance discrimination sciencehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:4c79e5371f73/The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on nuclear power plant risks2020-03-05T10:34:50+00:00
https://thebulletin.org/2020/02/the-us-government-insurance-scheme-for-nuclear-power-plant-accidents-no-longer-makes-sense/
jmThe Japan Center for Economic Research, a source sympathetic to nuclear power, recently put the long-term costs of the 2011 Fukushima accident as about $750 billion. [...]
The main public risk of nuclear power plants comes from rare but devastating nuclear accidents. Because data on such accidents is sparse, the probability of their occurrence has to be calculated on the basis of a model, rather than obtained from experience. Moreover, the extent of an accident and its monetary consequences are postulated on the basis of models that are limited by analysts’ imagination. Who would have imagined, for example, that the Fukushima accident would involve several reactors? Or that Japan would subsequently shut down all its other nuclear power plants?]]>fukushima nuclear nukes power risks danger probability insurance nuclear-power reactorshttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:cbdecda4acb6/The war on trees: insurance involvement denied by Cork County Council2019-05-31T09:24:26+00:00
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/council-wants-3k-for-files-on-tree-cutting-policy-923417.html
jmCork people have documented on social media examples of trees being removed from public spaces and have been critical of the practice.
Last week, The Phoenix magazine claimed the insurance industry “has been identified as the dark force behind the slaughtering of thousands of healthy trees across Ireland”.t
“It transpires insurance companies have offered lower premiums to county councils, if they remove any tree that poses even a remote threat to passing humans,” the magazine reported.
This was put to Cork City Council, which denied the claim. “I refer to your query and can confirm that no contact has been made with Cork City Council by insurance companies, in relation to trees,” the spokesperson said.
]]>trees greenery wildlife ireland cork insurancehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:8759ed2e2ab8/'digital health will lead to forms of enslavement we can barely imagine'2019-02-25T11:22:10+00:00
https://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/modern-medicine-is-like-the-medieval-church-37749518.html
jmPerhaps most alarming of all is his analysis of the future of the world of digital health - "Anyone with a smartphone will be monitoring themselves, or - more likely - will be monitored by some external agency. Health and life insurance companies will offer financial inducements to people to be monitored, and big corporations will undoubtedly make the wearing of health-tracking devices mandatory. The danger of all of this is that in countries where health care is paid for by insurance, a new underclass of uninsured people will emerge. Digital health," he points out, "is presented as something empowering, but the reality is that it will lead to forms of enslavement that we can barely imagine. Facebook and Google have shown how easily people hand over their privacy and personal data in return for a few shiny trinkets. They have also shown how this personal data can be monetised."
]]>health medicine tracking privacy insurance surveillance datahttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:69ae9874a376/DNA databases: biology stripped bare2018-05-03T11:48:10+00:00
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/dna-databases-biology-stripped-bare-1.3481790
jmUnlike other biometrics, [DNA] also provides revealing [data regarding] thousands of other related individuals; even to an entire ethnic group.
Such markers may reveal a genetic predisposition towards cancer, or early onset dementia. Mining that data and linking it to family trees and thus, individuals, might interest insurance companies, or state health bodies, or – as ever – advertisers. Or? Who knows?
And the ability of a third-party potentially to reveal such information about me, about you, without us having any say, by providing their DNA profile for some personal purpose? Consider how furious so many have been on the basis of their Facebook profile data going to Cambridge Analytica via some Facebook friend deciding to do a quiz.
Facebook profile data is revealing enough. But DNA is you, fully, irrevocably, exposed. And whatever it displays about you right now, is trivial compared to what we will be able to read into it in the future.
That’s why this case isn’t just about a solitary law enforcement outcome, but about all of us doing an unintended, genetic full monty.
]]>dna-matching dna data-privacy privacy future health cancer insurance karlin-lillingtonhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:1b6d4e726f76/Post-apocalyptic life in American health care2018-01-09T11:38:07+00:00
https://meaningness.com/metablog/post-apocalyptic-health-care
jmbureaucracy healthcare health systems us-politics insurance medicine dysfunctional fail fiasco via:craighttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ed55c26b957b/Data from pacemaker used to arrest man for arson, insurance fraud2017-02-05T22:26:20+00:00
http://www.zdnet.com/article/data-from-pacemaker-used-to-arrest-man-for-arson-insurance-fraud/
jmCompton has medical conditions which include an artificial heart linked to an external pump. According to court documents, a cardiologist said that "it is highly improbable Mr. Compton would have been able to collect, pack and remove the number of items from the house, exit his bedroom window and carry numerous large and heavy items to the front of his residence during the short period of time he has indicated due to his medical conditions."
After US law enforcement caught wind of this peculiar element to the story, police were able to secure a search warrant and collect the pacemaker's electronic records to scrutinize his heart rate, the demand on the pacemaker and heart rhythms prior to and at the time of the incident.
]]>pacemakers health medicine privacy data arson insurance fraud hearthttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ed5294e50e3a/Facebook scuppers Admiral Insurance plan to base premiums on your posts2016-11-02T16:34:47+00:00
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2016/11/facebook-scuppers-algorithmic-car-insurance/
jmThe Guardian claims to have further details of the kind of tell-tale signs that Admiral's algorithmic analysis would have looked out for in Facebook posts. Good traits include "writing in short concrete sentences, using lists, and arranging to meet friends at a set time and place, rather than just 'tonight'." On the other hand, "evidence that the Facebook user might be overconfident—such as the use of exclamation marks and the frequent use of 'always' or 'never' rather than 'maybe'—will count against them."
The future is shitty.]]>insurance facebook scoring computer-says-no algorithms text-analysis awful futurehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d01dbb8dc536/Northland man denies burning down house but insurer refuses to pay out2016-09-05T11:43:24+00:00
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83868063/Northland-man-denies-burning-down-house-but-insurer-refuses-to-pay-out
jmfraud insurance weird nz crime printers remote-loginhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:912e1c1c0a4f/Insurance Comparison Ireland2016-06-15T10:27:15+00:00
http://www.compareinsuranceireland.ie/
jmcomparison shopping ireland car-insurance insurancehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:82f24da9ecd8/Self-driving cars drive like your grandma2015-07-11T20:13:09+00:00
http://kottke.org/15/07/self-driving-cars-drive-like-your-grandma
jmdriving google cars traffic social insurancehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:5c410c1a7cb7/Great comment from the "banking uses eventual consistency" thread...2014-04-07T10:26:38+00:00
https://twitter.com/peat/statuses/452984415837093888
jmbanking banks insurance eventual-consistency databases consistency transactions nosqlhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:5a13ae1263cd/Big doubts on big data: Why I won't be sharing my medical data with anyone - yet2014-02-27T17:46:08+00:00
http://www.zdnet.com/uk/big-doubts-on-big-data-why-i-wont-be-sharing-my-medical-data-with-anyone-yet-7000026497/
jmThese problems can be circumvented, but they must be dealt with, publically and soberly, if the NHS really does want to win public confidence. The NHS should approach selling the scheme to the public as if was opt-in, not opt-out, then work to convince us to join it. Tell us how sharing our data can help, but tell us what risk too. Let us decide if that balance is worth it. If it's found wanting, the NHS must go back to the drawing board and retool the scheme until it is. It's just too important to get wrong.
]]>nhs uk privacy data-protection data-privacy via:mynosql big-data healthcare insurancehttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d274ea13c362/Hospital records of all NHS patients sold to insurers - Telegraph2014-02-23T23:49:31+00:00
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10656893/Hospital-records-of-all-NHS-patients-sold-to-insurers.html
jmThe 274-page report describes the NHS Hospital Episode Statistics as a “valuable data source in developing pricing assumptions for 'critical illness’ cover.”
It says that by combining hospital data with socio-economic profiles, experts were able to better calculate the likelihood of conditions, with “amazingly” clear forecasts possible for certain diseases, in particular lung cancer.
Phil Booth, from privacy campaign group medConfidential, said: “The language in the document is extraordinary; this isn’t about patients, this is about exploiting a market. Of course any commercial organisation will focus on making a profit – the question is why is the NHS prepared to hand this data over?”
]]>nhs privacy data insurance uk politics data-protectionhttps://pinboard.in/https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:dd93af316238/