Google
is to be investigated over how it is accessing U.S. patient data via a major
health firm, the Wall Street Journal reports.
An
office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will examine the
details of a deal dubbed “Project Nightingale”.
Google
said patient data was “secure”.
Separately,
in the U.K., the Financial Times (FT) reports that popular health websites are
sharing sensitive data with firms including Google.
The
Project Nightingale deal with Ascension - a firm that runs 2,600 hospitals in
the U.S. - attracted criticism from some when the Wall Street Journal revealed
that Google could access patient data without them being notified.
Among
those who expressed concern was Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski.
However,
in a blog, Google argued that the deal “adheres to industry-wide regulations”
and that access to patient data by its employees was controlled.
The
tech giant said patient data would not be combined with customer data from
other parts of its business.
It
added that it was “happy to co-operate” with the federal inquiry.
In
its own blog, Ascension said it looked forward to developing artificial
intelligence tools for medical purposes with Google’s help.
News
of Project Nightingale coincided with a FT investigation that revealed how popular
health websites in the U.K. frequently shared personal data with companies
including Google, Amazon and Facebook.
Websites
such as WebMD and Bupa used cookies - code added to web browsers - that allowed
other companies to track users’ activity on the web.
The
kind of data shared from health websites to others included medical symptoms,
diagnoses, and menstrual and fertility information, as well as the names of
drugs.
Google
told the FT it had strict policies preventing advertisers from using sensitive
data to target ads.
‘‘Everything
we do, every thought we’ve ever had, is produced by the human brain. But
exactly how it operates remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries, and it
seems the more we probe its secrets, the more surprises we find.’’
Neil
deGrasse Tyson
